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State population density simply doesn't matter. City population and distance between cities matters. Nobody realistically expects train lines to enable transportation to every square mile of the state.


You are correct. Most of Washington state is empty. Few people live in the Cascades or the eastern plains.

Most of the population of Washington and Portland Metro live inside a long rectangle with an area of 10-15000 square miles. Call it 400 people per square mile. Or probably 15000 people per mile of track which likely is a better number.


Well, Germany sort of does ....


Germany doesn't have much HSR either. They have some, but they are mostly running slower trains to reach all those small towns.


By that sort of standard, nowhere has "much HSR". Japan certainly doesn't run the Shinkansen to every little town and village.

There are plenty of 200mph+ lines all across Germany to count as "solid HSR connections", even the last 5-20 miles runs slower.




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