re: Can high speed rail work in the United States?

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In some regions, there are enough passengers and regional traffic to justify at least quasi-high speed rail:
- California (Bay area, Los Angeles, San Diego)
- Florida (Miami-Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, etc).
- Northeast corridor (DC-Baltimore-Philly-Newark-New York-Hartford-Boston)
- Midwest (St Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indy, Toronto, etc.)
- Texas Triangle (Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, College Station/Bryan, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, etc.)
- Gulf Coast (Houston, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, etc.)

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Theoretically, yes perhaps there would be enough passenger demand for these routes.

But there is still the problem of local transportation. It's not simply a matter of intercity travel, but intracity. Of all those cities, maybe a handful have the local public transportation infrastructure to justify taking a train there.

Put it this way...if you were a foreigner vacationing in Florida, do you really think it would be feasible to fly into Miami and then train to Orlando and Tampa without eventually needing your own car?

Sure, you could take Uber...and rack up hundreds of dollars in fares. In which case, you might as well just rent a car when you land in Miami.