Exactly right. When the socialists among us denounce cars as "inefficient", all they're really doing is expressing their personal dislike for the value system of the majority of their fellow citizens, and their desire to veto those individual value judgements with the force of the state.
First, the wheels and track of a train are essentially nondeformable. Rubber inflatable tires on asphalt are the exact opposite. HUGE savings in energy there.
Next, rails often run on super-high-voltage overhead electrical energy, which may come from anything from nuclear energy to dinosaur juice to coal to hydrogen to wind to hydoelectric to burning trash to methane ice from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Next, rails can carry ten thousand persons on a single train, pulled by a single motor or single locomotive or at most, few motors. No way can ten thousand cars and trucks come close to that.
Next, rail upkeep is cheaper than road upkeep.
Last, train stations are centrally located in towns and cities, encouraging even less road travel than the point-to point nature of car and truck travel.
Last, trains are the fastest for interurban travel in places like Europe, where the infrastructure is as well developed as would be acceptable.