You're right that LA to Chicago is likely to never be a popular route for train travel.
There's two big problems with air travel in the U.S. that trains could exploit.
First, most cities don't have direct connections to their neighbors. Connecting in hub airports takes considerable time and adds the possibility of additional delays. (i.e. I've got to worry about a snowstorm in Chicago if I want to travel from Des Moines to Indianapolis.)
Second, check-in, ticketing, boarding, and baggage claim are a huge pain and add an hour or two to every flight.
Trains could directly connect any number of large, close-together cities that are not currently airline hubs and provide very competitive travel times.
Kansas City to St. Louis is only ~250 miles. That's 2-3 hours on a fast train. Including check-in and baggage claim, it takes 5 - 7 hours to fly between the two cities (connecting in Chicago.) St. Louis to Cleveland is about 550 miles. That's 5 - 7 hours on a fast train. On a plane that same trip would take 4 - 6 hours including check-in and baggage claim (connecting in Chicago again.)
There's two big problems with air travel in the U.S. that trains could exploit.
First, most cities don't have direct connections to their neighbors. Connecting in hub airports takes considerable time and adds the possibility of additional delays. (i.e. I've got to worry about a snowstorm in Chicago if I want to travel from Des Moines to Indianapolis.)
Second, check-in, ticketing, boarding, and baggage claim are a huge pain and add an hour or two to every flight.
Trains could directly connect any number of large, close-together cities that are not currently airline hubs and provide very competitive travel times.
Kansas City to St. Louis is only ~250 miles. That's 2-3 hours on a fast train. Including check-in and baggage claim, it takes 5 - 7 hours to fly between the two cities (connecting in Chicago.) St. Louis to Cleveland is about 550 miles. That's 5 - 7 hours on a fast train. On a plane that same trip would take 4 - 6 hours including check-in and baggage claim (connecting in Chicago again.)