Trains are longer now than they used to be and this is especially true in flat areas of the country. As Jonty said above the industrial base has also been hollowed out so more intermodal transport has been pushed to the coasts where we import goods (less movement of materials within the nation).
The railroads are still the most cost-effective (and green) way to move goods but the politicians are determined to electrify them sooner or later causing the same disruptions and unforeseen issues that “green energy” does everywhere else.
Consider a 100 car train is about 6000 ft long, more than a mile, some can get up to almost 300 cars, roughly 3 1/2 miles long.
And the funny thing is they’re already electric: diesel-electric.
How are the treasonous, feckless, ignorant, arrogant, witless, corrupt, compromised, amoral, narcissistic morons in the political, NGO and bureaucratic positions going to get around that?