passenger rail system and 'high-speed rail' are two different things. If I want to take the train from Hamburg to Frankfurt, I can take the more expensive and faster ICE or a cheaper and slower EC or IC. personally I would not fly or use the car from Hamburg to Frankfurt, I would take the train, Fast, no check-in, city center to city center, full internet access (free for me).

Plus I have a BahnCard 100, which allows me to use the whole German train system for one year. Fast and slow. local public transport and ICE. That beats the alternatives easily.