[ant6n]

They kind of are if you consider how many goods are still shipped by trucks.

The US is perfect for rail - lots of long trips, with lots of goods. It could probably have more market share if goods could move more quickly and flexibly.

[bluGill]

While there is a lot US rail could do to get more freight, the fact is we send a lot more freight by rail than Europe.

[_delirium]

Just to add some numbers, the freight modal splits as of 2018 (most recent year with complete data), measured in tonne-kilometers, for a few countries [1] and the EU taken as a whole [2]:

US: 45% road, 38% rail, 17% other (water/pipeline)

France: 75% road, 15% rail, 10% other

Germany: 62% road, 25% rail, 18% other

Spain: 92% road, 4% rail, 4% other

EU: 76% road, 19% rail, 5% other

[1] https://stats.oecd.org/BrandedView.aspx?oecd_bv_id=trsprt-da...

[2] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

[ant6n]

Europe is not perfect for rail. Shorter trips, complicated geography, etc. etc. there are some legacy technology constraints that the us doesn’t have or solved a hundred years ago (loading gauge, max train length, couplers).

The fact is the us could do better, pointing to Europe which could also do better is moot.

[nickbauman]

I believe this as well. And I happen to know of one of the largest rail systems in North America changes its topology weekly. I'm not sure "throughput over latency" is as much of a mindset as those here who say it is.