I wish passenger rail was more of a thing in the US. Amtrak is sporadic here. My dad worked for the railroad as an electrician for decades, so my rail knowledge and experience relates mostly to freight. Occasionally we see oddities on the tracks here like Boeing fuselages and massive blades for power generating windmills.
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It's really interesting just reading the comments on this post particularly from the folks in America. In UK commuting by trains is very common as it's much quicker albeit a bit more expensive than coaches (or the Greyhound buses as they're known in America?), whereas in the States it seems like there is much less passenger travel. Is that coz America is so big and people either drive or catch the plane?
The stuff you mentioned on the tracks sounds interesting, I never heard of them before, not sure if it's coz I'm not a train buff or whether it's an American thing. Either way, I'm always fascinated by the new stuff I learn on Hive from around the world.
America is very big, and while passenger rail was a big thing into perhaps the 1970s, cheaper airfare and better airports allowed faster travel across such a wide expanse to take over. Most passenger rail was (and is) shared with freight, and track for heavy loads is built differently. Dedicated high speed rail on a nationwide scale would be astronomically expensive, especially here in the mountains where trestles and tunnels would need to be built from scratch.
I took Amtrak back east to my grandmother's funeral mainly because I refuse to fly. I simply will not accept the TSA porno-scanners and gate rape security theater. Driving that far would have taken too much time. Train is the way I would prefer to travel if the destination rather than the journey were my priority.
I don't know what to think of dedicated subways and light rail. I haven't really experienced it. The crowds one sees on TV repulse me, not because of new COVID fears, but because I like my personal space regardless. I completely understand the convenience and opportunity of urban life, but I don't think I fit there.