The US Heartland has been hollowed out, so there is probably little business for the railways where you are.
There has likely been an increase in efficiency in how rail is used.
“The US Heartland has been hollowed out, so there is probably little business for the railways where you are.”
Sending our manufacturing overseas reduced the need for railroads to transport raw materials and completed manufactured products from factories spread across the nation. Environmental regulation has destroyed mining for coal and other minerals in the US. Mining was a heavy user of railroad transportation. Consolidation of the local and regional railroads into a few giant railroads has resulted in lower volume routes being eliminated as superfluous or marginally profitable. During the last 50 years interstate trucking has taken market share from the railroads for interstate freight.