This is absolutely true. I spent several years lobbying on Capitol Hill for passenger rail transport. The problem isn't the idea -- the high-speed rail system in California is a perfectly developed notion -- it's the implementation of it. There's too many hands in the pot.
From the politicians, to the environmentalists, to the regulatory agencies, to the NIMBYs, to the transportation authorities, to the taxation agencies, to the suppliers and vendors, once everyone takes their cut, the cost is too high.
It's not just rail. We can hardly build roadways effectively and efficiently any longer. Look how many years and how much money it takes just to add a few lanes to an existing highway.
Most of our freight rail lines are along corridors that have been in place for decades -- if not over a century. Passenger rail systems need new throughways and cannot, in most cases, share freight lines. Until we yank the extra hands out of the pot, passenger rail in this country will remain a fantasy.
Passenger rail systems can share freight lines. Japan does it all the time. It was done in this country for over a hundred years until competition with the Federal Highway system killed the railroads. Europe has a vast network of canals where most of the freight is moved. Railroads in Europe always mostly moved people and time sensitive freight.