82% of the US population lives in urban areas. Most Americans look out their front door to see a dense metropolis with thousands of people per square mile. Th

82% of the US population lives in urban areas. Most Americans look out their front door to see a dense metropolis with thousands of people per square mile. The upshot of this is that quite a modest train network could easily serve 50%+ of Americans. Once that's done, then you can come back and complain about how it's hard to run trains to that one guy who lives in a shack somewhere, and I'll agree with you. Think of it like the interstate highway system. Yes, not every single American has a highway running to their door. But a heck of lot of people make daily use of the system and 100% of the population benefits from it.