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My question is: why don't we have a system like that here?

Probably the major reason is track mileage. That's where capital and maintenance costs really add up. The distances in Europe are short hauls compared to what railroads have to cover in the U.S. . . . typically 200-400 km. Here, we're talking thousands of miles of track - even Boston to NYC is about 450 miles of track, and NYC to DC is about the same, IIRC. And that's the NE corridor, which is easy money revenue for passenger service, compared to the long hauls in the rest of the country.

I used to work for a major U.S. RR, and the main line of one of its competitors runs two blocks from our house. I chat with the maintenance crew chiefs while I'm walking the dog, for old times' sake. Just the maintenance on the grade crossing around the corner is staggering. They just regraded, reballasted, poured a new base, and replaced all the ties 40 feet on either side three weeks ago. The signals are tested twice a week with a two man crew. Multiply that by all the gated crossings between Atlanta and Chattanooga . . . on the entire system . . . on the other dozen or so major systems in the U.S. . . . and you're talking about REAL money. (The Paris Brussels high speed line has NO grade crossings at all.)

Good point (about the relative distances).

I would love to see it done, however, even if only for very short hauls. I live about an hour and a half by car from a fairly large city, but the roads are narrow, the parking and traffic are horrible once you get there, and I would never dream of commuting to work there. The distance is only about 75 miles, and a nice speedy train could make it in no time at all. It would be faster than a car over these indirect, truck-clogged roads.

Traveling by train (which I do all the time in Europe) is wonderful, restful, scenic, and all the other things the ads tell you. However, because it was a government controlled industry, European train travel had also gotten pretty crummy. Many European states are now in the process of privatizing, so there's been a new emphasis on service and efficiency, although unfortunately they have such hostile unions that it's very hard to make any changes.

We should observe and learn...

And you still can't get a train out of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Amtrak has a Chattanooga "station" listed on its website... click on it and you'll find that it's only the bus station. From Knoxville, I'd have to drive to Gastonia, NC to find the closest train station.