In Germany and Italy all the major cities are within two hours train time or less from another major city, and every city has a compact downtown with a centrally located train station and available public transportation.
Our cities also have something theirs don’t.
European cities are largely walkable. Your job, your stores, your restaurants, your bars, your nightclubs and your green spaces are all within walking distance of your apartment. Anything you want to travel further in the city to, you can bike, take the bus or take the metro.
Inter-city travel - there’s the train.
Almost no one owns a car, its expensive and there’s usually no place to park. Its not worth the convenience.
If I want to go to Sacramento from Reno (BIG if) I drive the 145 miles, in 2.5 hours with one stop. The bus takes takes 4 hours and costs $65. The train takes 5:45 and costs $88.
In Europe, it’s actually less expensive to fly between cities than taking a train.
How about VAT taxes and government taxes and regs that make gasoline nearly double the price in the US?
Europeans don’t drive because they’ve been socially engineered and funneled to the state’s preferred travel method. They don’t want to drive clown cars.
Europeans are poor compared to Americans. They live in homes that American poor would find too small.