Comment by talkingtab
11 days ago
The introduction lost me. To quote: "Japan’s vast railway network", but it does not address the mouse in the room. Japan is approximately the size of California with a population density that is three times that of California. I would argue that a comparison of rail systems without addressing those critical issues may be interesting but isn't really informative. The issues are complex.
California has a similar population density to France, which has a generally decent railway network. It's not really an excuse.
France has a density (pop/km²) of 122, similar density countries include Poland, Azerbaijan, Sierra Leone, Egypt (how are consistent are the rail systems across those countries?). US has a density of 37.
California specifically has a density of 94 (29% lower), which puts it near Spain, Timor-Leste, Moldova and Cuba.. California is doing OK for it's position.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...
People aren't uniformly distributed over entire areas, making such comparisons completely wrong and pointless.
> US has a density of 37.
Just LOL. No, the US does not consist of 300 million people evenly spread over that large of an area. Not even close.