When I moved to Tokyo, my company ask me to take a business trip to Osaka. That is about the equivalent distance from SF-LA. You could fly, but the airport to downtown is not that close. I took the Shinkansen, which took me less than 3 hours. It was very comfortable and it never delays. Shinkansen is on time almost 90% of the time and far more comfortable than air travel. Plus the station is located in the center of the city. Something you can never do on air travel. 40 years ago, Japanese government realize that they had to do something about the growing population. Their highways were very narrow and it was impossible to expand it. The airport is too small, and too busy to handle people traveling from Tokyo to Osaka. They decided to build the Bullet train and solved the problem. Japan does not have a land to build an airport like LAX or SFO, so Shinkansen was a success. Even more ironic, the Shinkansen cost much more than flying from Tokyo to Osaka, but more people will rather take the Shinkansen then JAL or ANA. Ever since that huge accident by Japan Airlines in 1985, more people realize that Shinkansen is much safer since it has never been in a major accident since 1964..

I wish California had something like Shinkansen, because I don't like to drive such long distance and building a larger highway is not the answer. Unless you want to drive over 200mph without getting pulled over. Oakland and SFO is getting way to crowded and I never heard of a plane arriving on time.

Look at Europe with TGV and ICE, Airline companies don't want to fly short distance because it's not profitable. Majority of the Airline companies are no longer flying short distance since TGV and ICE were made.