There are 334 miles between Montreal and New York City, going almost directly south.
There are 331 miles between Edinburgh and London, going almost directly south.
A mere three miles difference.
But it takes 12 hours to get from Montreal to New York. Amtrak claims 10 hours, but in my experience it takes 12.
It takes 3 and a quarter hours to get from Edinburgh to London.
Even considering that passports must be inspected when crossing the international border between Canada and the United States, that's a ridiculous difference in the amount of time it takes to travel virtually the exact same distance.
It takes over 24 hours to travel from New York to Miami, a distance of 1100 miles.
It takes 16 hours to travel the same approximately distance between Paris France and Maribor Slovenia, which includes four countries - France, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
Something needs to be done about train travel in the US.