IMHO, it's not a matter of if, but when, when it comes to train resurgence in the US.
There is too much congestion on the roads and in the air, and too much atrophy of the railroads' right-of-way for anything else to happen.
The feds can either facilitate, by huge tax incentives, this transition, or they can wait until it becomes something the public overwhelmingly supports -- i.e., one or more transportation crises will have occurred, maybe with September 11 as the first.
The country is large enough that a fast train could go from Chicago to Indianapolis in about two hours, check-in time, etc., included.
That's what air travel takes, with all the congestion in either city, along with security considerations, etc., taken into account.
Factor in the fact that the rail stations are already downtown, and you can see that passenger rail is more than a possibility nationwide -- it could become the mode of choice for most interurban travel.
I would agree with the author that it will take some 'nurturing' from the feds to do this, but, hey, they have done that much and ten times more for ALL other modes of transportation.
By way of comparison, the rails are the stepchildren of the feds, and have been for years.
Ultimately, too, is the often-quoted physical argument that there is simply no more energy-efficient way to transport things than on long trains of cars on rigid, non-deformable wheels.
Apply modern technology to the problem of rail travel and it will thrive.
But any form of taxation may be too much to allow this to occur.
As Eisenhower said about the interstate highway system subsidies in the 50s -- there was an important security consideration in having first-class roads nationwide, so as to facilitate transportation of goods and manpower in the event of a national crisis.
I remember the three days following September 11, 2001, when the skies were clear blue and empty.
I think Eisenhower was right then, and I think that rail advocates who invoke national security are right for exactly the same reason.
In addition to the many other benefits of rail transportation.
Most of the points you made were good ones, but September 11th was not terribly relevant to the discussion. Changing the dominant mode of transportation will simply change the next target of a terrorist. In Europe, for example, rail travel is much more popular than air travel. As a result, the most common "high-profile" terrorist target in Europe is a railroad terminal.