The US currently has only 1% of the rail network electrified, so running power lines is going to be a huge project. Europe went the other way and has on average

The US currently has only 1% of the rail network electrified, so running power lines is going to be a huge project. Europe went the other way and has on average 54% electrified. With the Benelux / DACH / France region even around 70% or so. At only 1% electrified network is makes a lot more sense to put batteries on the train. At 70% it makes more sense to continue electrification where needed.