The short answer is, not many people would - on the slower trains, the median trip is around 6hrs, and on the faster trains less than that.

But the fact that a particular type of trip does not dominate does not mean it should be disregarded - after all, that is one of the problems with the Auto-Uber-Alles mentality.

Further, normally one would say, "and bear in mind that development of corridors is not synchronized, due to the bottom-up nature of the panning", but since both the Midwest and Colorado are further ahead than the Southeatsern states outside of VA and NC, that'd not be an issue for this trip.

There are three STRACNET corridors heading east from Colorado, counting the dogleg at Cheyenne, with St. Louis offering the most direct route to Atlanta. So I would say:

Colorado Springs / Denver & Denver / St. Louis would not have any long wait at Denver, since a Front Range HSR would have multiple daily trips as would the Denver/STL corridor.

And then in the Appalachian Hub:

St. Louis / Nashville / Chattanooga / Atlanta

The St. Louis connector is not shown above - it runs from that "bump" on the Nashville/Memphis STRACNET corridor to Cairo, IL, and then up STRACNET corridor along the Illinois/Missouri border to St. Louis.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.