I’m a train guy too. (My dad works for BNSF and used to work for AMTRAK for a few years) I’m pretty much in total agreement that the uS is just too bloody big in a lot of ways for a national rail line. Regional ones are good in some areas though, but have you seen how hard it is to START a new line?
Here in high desert we’re STILL (I believe we started 10 years ago) to get a dedicated passanger line from LA to Las Vegas since that’d free up some of the traffic off of I-15. Yet the political bickering, the land costs, and everything else has kept this project at a standstill. 
Now for me the best compromise between Airplanes and Trains is Jet Blimps. I’m serious! Imagine being able to fly to your destination at maybe twice the time it takes a normal jet to get there, but in the comfort and stretchability of a train or cruise ship? Now if we’d only get these buggers to work. 
