" The railroad is the most civilized method of travel that man has ever devised!"

Yup. Contestable with the canoe and such, ;-), but, yup. And, so many posts above are so bang on the money. As for the supply of oil, don't hold yer breath. As for the the use of intermodal transport, don't hold your breath... etc, etc, etcetera.

That fact is, in NA, that our society is so competitive that the watermelons have to arrive a day earlier than the competition. The strawberries have to be a deeper red. The hoses and couplings must arrive yesterday to ensure the drill rig can operate 24/7 tomorrow.

Will rail come back? Eventually, yes. But, don't hold your breath. Unless the entire world decides to run their economies in a communistic style of accounting, ie, life cycle costing, it ain't gonna happen... until the oil runs out. And, that ain't gonna happen for the VERY LOOOOONNNG forseeable future. At least 600 years... and, that's just with the oil we know about.