Let's make something very clear. At the moment, if you want to travel thousands of km, the best option is planes. If you want to travel tens to hundreds of km, the best option is trains. I'm not saying that All travel from LA to NY has to be via train. I'm not saying that every single journey, no matter how long should be via train. But it is ridiculous how hard it is to travel from e.g. Chicago to NY, which is a journey that should definitely be easily possible by train, but isn't.

And no, this isn't because of freight (which, other countries have too!). The reason the train infrastructure in most of North America (because Canada is just as guilty) is so bad, is because of the car industry. They tried their very best to hinder trains at every turn. they demolished trains, and paid politicians to ensure trains would be defunded, in favour of cars. You can see the result very clearly. They made countless billions by forcing everyone to drive a car, rather than the obvious best option of using trains. There are fewer trains lines now than there were 100 years ago. Just think about how ridiculous that is.

Trains are far more efficient in terms of energy, time, how many people need to focus on driving, space required etc. They are also far safer, and don't destroy the environment.

Yes, the USA needs more rail lines. But even without new rail lines, notice that rails are not used most of the time. The temporal separation of subsequent trains is often many hours in the US. Just think of how many more trains you can fit on the same line. And compare that to how roads are used all the time, not just once briefly every few hours.

You want to talk freight? Sure. Consider how many drivers are needed to drive trucks across the country. Now consider how many train drivers would be needed instead to deliver the same freight. Also consider that trains can go much faster than trucks., are much more efficient. Sure, you might need trucks for the final few km. But apart from that, trains are obviously the best answer for delivery.

You brought up the topic of safety. Yes, trains can't stop easily. But trucks can't stop easily either. Look at the statistics of how many people are killed by cars each year. Now look up how many people are killed by trains each year. Trains are orders of magnitude safer. It's not even hard to see why. Trains are on tracks. Cars aren't. Trains have a single driver. Every car has their own driver. People drive trains for work. People drive cars because they have to. Trains are self driving. Cars aren't. Trains have existing infrastructure to keep people away from where they drive. Cars don't.