I think your comment epitomizes the US situation. You've been conditioned to see no alternatives to roads and highways. I should know. I grew up the same way in the US.

I got a shock moving from Minneapolis to Houston at age 14. Minneapolis has a functioning bus system. A teenager like me could hop on the bus and get downtown. I could ride my bike for miles to movie theaters or to a friend's house.

Houston is massive, with no functioning bus system. When I started work in 88 on the west side of Houston, I-10 was 2 lanes to a side. Now it is 5 to a side, with 4 lanes in the middle. 14 lanes of traffic, and there are still jams. Why? Because individual cars are a super inefficient means of travel for commuters.

What is really depressing is that in 1988 there was a light rail line sitting idle just north of I-10. They eventually ripped it out to make the highway wider. Fucking morons.

I live in Vienna now since 1994. I walk to work. I ride my bike to the gym. The underground or a train takes me anywhere I want to go, 90% of the time faster and cheaper than driving. I have a car for that other 10%.

Austria is small. Spain is big. Spain has expanded its high speed rail so that domestic travel by rail is cheaper, easier and faster than by plane.

The US is huge. A national rail system would be a huge infrastructure project. Shittons of jobs. Unbelievable development. It would revitalize "fly over country" as you can have express trains and local trains that stop at towns along the way.

Freight trains would benefit from the economies of scale by sharing resources (switches, automation, etc.) with passenger trains.

Way better for the consumer. Way better for the environment. The losers are the car and oil companies - and that is where the real problem is.

Houston was designed for cars because Houston is owned by the oil industry. The US as a whole is better, but until we break the grip of the oligarchs on the US government, things are not going to get better for rail/bus travel or a lot of other things.