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The Improbable Story of the 184 MPH Jet Train
MatthewVD writes Almost half a century ago, New York Central Railroad engineer Don Wetzel and his team bolted two J47-19 jet engines, throttled up the engines and tore down a length of track from Butler, Indiana to Stryker, Ohio at almost 184 mph. Today, the M-497 still holds the record for America's fastest train. This is the story of how it happened.
..I think, in fairness, the AC above was rather making the point that America (@ ca. 3000 miles across..) is rather lacking in the 100-400 mile destinations that would make the train a more viable option - thus, your choice of a 400 mile journey as reference point negates the point somewhat.
Don't know about America, however, I live in central Europe, and, for me, time length of train journey would be of less important than the price - it should be cheaper than flying, it usually isn't, E.g., Berlin to Vienna, ca. 400 mile driving, train would be about 200 EUR+, flights leaving in an hour start at around 200 and drop to around 50 EUR for 14 days or so advance booking. The OP was correct, this (400 mls) around the normal average maximum inner-European point-to-point journey range - where the theory of the benfits of rail travel fails over the hassle of airports, is on price - flying remains, quite simply, too cheap an alternative.