Early line built ot bring raw materials and agricultural products to ports.
Later, cities grew along rail corridors. Common guage N.A. functions as unified system. Competition from the subsidized and faster air and highway modes and elimination of mail contracts is the answer. However, there are niches for the rail, and potentially new markets in the future. Click here for High Speed Ground Transportation in North America CyberTran - high speed rail concept based on using large numbers of small vehicles.