The US should take leadership ideas from China? Uh, without trains, how would an average Chinese person travel 100 miles? Sure, something on wooden wheels. That is, notice that China is very short on private cars.
Last I heard, in Belgium or some such, sure, can buy a new car. But it will have to be imported, and the import tariff is 180% of the cost of the car. Now understand why the EU is so big on bicycles and trains?
Interesting. Okay, but the more relevant number for mass transportation planning would be the number of cars per, say, 1000 people or 1000 working age people or some such. With that, the US has a lot "more" cars and China is "short" on cars.
Yes, the U.S. should start taking ideas from China.
And cars in Belgium aren't 180% of the price in the U.S. (not to mention they're part of the EU so they don't have to import German or French cars). The main difference is that cities are built on a human scale so cars don't fit and aren't a good way to go around, not to mention garages are almost nonexistant and parking is very expensive.
Ignoring that for a moment, high speed rail between major cities and population centers is where it would be most beneficial anyway.