First off, America has a more extensive rail system than Europe wish they ever had, the major difference between the US and European rail systems is what they focus on. Europe as we can see is focused on passenger trains and makes sure there’s an efficient and well connected rail system to move people from point A to B. The rail system in America is geared towards the movement of freight. Everything is about freight in the American rail system, they have right of way over passenger trains, there’s more rail designated for freight only, but the kicker is this, US railways are scarily efficient at moving freight from point A to B. Trains in the US “carry over 40% of our intercity cargo. Trains carry much less of Europe’s freight, which is why trucks clog Europe’s highways. And America’s rail-shipping rates are the world’s lowest, reducing the cost of doing business in the U.S.; they’ve fallen 45% in real dollars since the industry was deregulated three decades ago.” It’s a well known fact if you ask people that the Rail Freight in the US is the best in the world and there are some who claim that the efficiency of the US rail freight is so high that it’s basically negated the need for the Panama Canal, with most cargo ships from Asia with cargo destined for Europe stopping in Seattle or Vancouver, being put on trains and sped across the lower 48 towards New York or other ports on the East Coast, reloaded, and shipped to Europe.
Now for the death of the passenger train in the US. Someone had to take the hit for the creation of basically the most efficient freight rail system in the world, and that was the passenger train industry in the US. Freight trains move at about 55mph, while passenger trains move at about 76mph in the US, and as stated before freight trains have right of way in the US which create long delays and poor passenger numbers in the US. On to the second thing mentioned that killed the passenger railroad, the automobile industry. It wasn’t the car itself that killed the passenger train here, but the creation of infrastructure for the car that did it. In general before 1956 (this year is very important), highways in the US were fairly limited and mostly out west, were of poor quality and long distance travel by car was simply far more trouble than what it was worth in those days. The creation of the Interstate system with the passing of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 by President Dwight D Eisenhower brought about the modern highway system we see in America (even if its now old and needs remodeled), which made long distant travel by car much easier and still gave people the freedom of the personal automobile.Another reason passenger trains have been and still are on the decline in the US is the exponential growth of the passenger aviation industry and airlines after the second world war that ultimately decreased the travel time across the continental US from 3 days by train with the implications that everything went right and there were no delays, to roughly half a day with the same implications.
tl:dr The US Freight railroad system is the envy of the world and it along with the Interstate and the Airplane killed the passenger train in the US
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