We looked into this! If you want to go regional range, you really need high speed rail (who's trying to sit on a train that goes slower than cars on the highway...)

High speed rail is prohibitively expensive. Besides the rail itself, you need to do grade separation from the ground so the rail can be flat, environmental impact studies, and in the US where private property rights are very strong, you might need to pay the land owners.

Look at the proposed price tags of the past 4 high speed rail projects in the US (none came to fruition): - California High Speed Rail: $77B - Acela High Speed Rail (NE Corridor): $150B - Texas Central: $20B - Virgin Trains Florida High Speed Rail: $4B (just Orlando to West Palm!)

I wish it was as simple as electric trains! Would save us a lot of engineering...