America has better geography for fast trains than France

At least part of it does

Population geography is, obviously, an important factor in transportation infrastructure.

Whenever I see something like Alec MacGillis marveling at how a very modest-sized German city enjoys frequent rail service, I always urge American railfans to look up population density figures. Germany has over six times the population density of the Lower 48 — in other words, it’s like Two Billion Americans, which would be a terrible title for a book. In the U.S., Denver has a larger and busier airport than you might expect based on the size of the city. And that’s at least in part because the geography is unusual. No major population centers are close to Denver, but Denver is centrally located to the whole American West, which makes it a great hub for an airline.

Geography doesn’t determine everything, though. France, for example, recently banned short-haul domestic flights in favor of reliance on its strong domestic rail network.

Because while the country has “only” three times the density of …