[kneebonian]

And there are multiple us states larger than Germany, and unlike Germany many of these places are not flowing with navigable rivers all over the place. The closest navigable river to me is an 8 hour drive, and that's still loads closer than where I grew up that didn't have any navigable rivers in the entire state.

(Seriously people out East have no idea what a mountain is, and people out west have no idea what a river is in the US)

[crote]

Absolutely, but most people in the US live pretty close together, on their respective coasts. It is completely understandable that Iowa isn't going to have excellent infrastructure, but there is no reason why the Northeast Corridor or California can't be more similar to Western Europe rather than their current car paradise.

If anything, being so large and not having waterways should provide a good incentive to use rail transport. Freight trains really suck for short distances, so cross-continental transport is pretty much ideal for them.

Unfortunately the US is stuck with companies like CSX and Union Pacific actively sabotaging rail transport by using "precision-scheduled railroading", actively ripping up tracks and electrification, and strongly resisting any attempts to modernize the network. On paper they are doing great, but their service is really bad and their safety record is abysmal.