The next response will be something about population density. The response to that will be Spain, France, etc.
At this point (decades after we should have) I imagine it's extremely expensive to get the land for direct routes.
Our next plan is to build a hyperloop so we can taken the long way to go between major cities.
China will have close to 25,000 miles of rail in another decade. They're also increasing the speed. Should be a cost effective way to transport 1.4 billion people
IMO it's lobbying and nothing else. There are only benefits as far as I can tell.