@jsucool76 wrote:
amtrak is a super underrated program. the points are pretty valuable.
Yes under the current redemption system the amtrak points are really valuable. There is some serious value if you are moving a family and can spare a bit of time to use the train. This involves getting one of the sleeper cards. Lots of people on east coast use train though. Easier than dealing with airports. Some really nice scenery out in western part of country on train routes but I have never taken those. I know in 2013 31.6 million people took amtrak which was the most in its history. Not sure what the recent data is, but for those claiming it doesn't get used. Well, that just isn't accurate.
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@Anonymous wrote:
Compare to how many used airlines?
No idea, but its apple and oranges. Airlines can fly over water etc. Plus I would venture to guess the most train riders are going shorter distances between cities. Therefore, if they didn't take the train they wouldn't necessarily fly. They would drive or take bus etc. Putting more vehicles on road creating other issues.
@Anonymous wrote:
Trains are the preferred means of transportation for much of the world. The problem with trains in the US is that we are using old technology. We are way behind other modern industrialized countries. Look at Europe for example. A lack of funding is the major issue, not too much. Trains are by far less of an environmental impact than air and way better than cars. If trains where used more we would benefit financially in the long run...but who cares about the future.
...Off soapbox now...
I'm not even going to touch most of the points in this post. 
What I would say is in Europe things are quite a bit closer than they are here. Paris to London is two hours. London to Brussels is two hours. The point is that Europe is pretty small when compared to the US, so train travel is more feasible there. However, here we can have trains on the coasts, but going across the US the amount of time it takes becomes excessive and the demand isn't the same for those trains. We have acela trains which are nice and better than many european trains I have taken. Although, places like China and Japan totally outdo us when it comes to train travel. I took the fastest commercially open train when I was in China and it was insane. Their high speed trains cover quite a distance with little pain. The coastlines could be upgraded to even faster trains for sure.
@red259 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Trains are the preferred means of transportation for much of the world. The problem with trains in the US is that we are using old technology. We are way behind other modern industrialized countries. Look at Europe for example. A lack of funding is the major issue, not too much. Trains are by far less of an environmental impact than air and way better than cars. If trains where used more we would benefit financially in the long run...but who cares about the future.
...Off soapbox now...I'm not even going to touch most of the points in this post.
The reason train travel is "not feasible" here is because we don't have a great rail system. If the US had invested in (high-speed) rail the way Europe and Asia have done, trains would be a viable way to criss-cross the country. But as can be seen from several comments here, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome for rail.