Simple solution.
Do not put HSR train stations as close as they want to. It is stupid to put HSR stations less than 100 miles apart. Anything less than that you are wasting time and energy constantly accelerating or decelerating.
If they want to do HSR trains efficiently they need to combine cargo with passenger service on one train with infrequent stops. This means rebuilding thousands of miles of express rails the US government tore up in the 1970s. A good example would be a HSR train running across the southern US from Jacksonville FL to San Diego with stops in New Orleans, Houston, El Paso and Phoenix.
During the passenger transfer the cargo cars of the train would be swapped out making the time of the stop more efficient. Other HSR trains running north / south from those cities would make up a new HSR grid crossing the country to move passengers and cargo. Container cargo could be shipped from the port of San Diego to Chicago with one train change. Similar HSR trains would run east / west through the central and northern parts of the nation completing the grid. These trains need to terminate in port cities on each coast to be effective.
Affordable to operate regional trains running at speeds up to 100 mph would operate on regional grids that would feed passengers and cargo from smaller cities into the HSR rail grid.
This is very similar to the grid that supplied the US war effort in WW I and WW II that was dismantled in favor of the Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower never intended his highway system to replace trains. It was supposed to complement them as part of a comprehensive transportation grid as Germany used its Autobahns to complement its railroads.
