Not sure of your source, but by most measures of efficiency US freight rail is the best in the world, and also carries 10x weight * distance per capita than Europe.
Weight * distance/population we again rank #3 behind both Russia and Canada. It says less about or rail system than our large size and relatively low population density.
In terms of efficiency we rank 31st in terms of miles of electrified track at a paltry 2,000km which significantly increases costs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_tran...
Don’t get me wrong I have heard people say the US has the #1 rail network, but objectively I have never seen anyone actually back it up.