Let's not forget that to get the rail network we DO have, the government GAVE the land to the railroads.
That's right. GAVE. 150 years ago, there wasn't anyone around, and what land you didn't get granted you bought on cents for the acre.
What's the difference between now and then? People. Lots of them. 300 million plus.
This isn't the agrarian Podunk it used to be.
On a side note, when railroads abandon their land claims, funny stuff happens to the easements they had through private property. Railroads had easements through private property sometimes dating back over a century. Many railroads laid communications cable to support their operations along their tracks. When they abandon the lines, the RR's claims go poof. The problem is when the RR has leased or sold the communications lines to another party (often telecoms), because the land use was often tied to the use for railroad transportation. Now the new owner of the communications lines get a BIG bill from the land owner for an easement for the line. Don't want to pay? Say hello to Mr. Backhoe.
That aside, as a native Floridian, I wait in comic glee for the new train system, because hilarity will ensue.
When the Tri-Rail first opened (connecting Dade, Broward and PB Counties), it did so on FEC tracks, because CSX, the railroad that had track where, oh, I dunno, happened to actually be where people wanted to go (downtown, and along the US1 corridor), didn't want anything to do with it.
So this whole infrastructure (stations, parking, etc) had to be built up around the FEC tracks...and it still didn't get you to where you wanted to go. And it was single tracked. And FEC trains had priority over Tri-Rail trains...just what you want for time sensitive commuter trains. It took YEARS and a boat load of cash (and double tracking) to un-fuxxor that situation.
And now they're moving it back to the CSX tracks. Single tracked. Well done future planners of America!
My point is you cannot underestimate the land costs. In an urban environment, it is simply un-economical. It is a completely different situation from 100 years ago when the urban rail lines were dropped in the US and Europe.
Richman