I wouldn't say society has rejected the rail in America, but rather that the political structure has rejected the rail. There's a dominant paradigm in public transport that it must be run by the government (which ironically is somewhat counter to the broader american ethos). Yet there are places like Singapore where the public transport is run via (in the past fully, but currently partially) for-profit, publically traded companies, where the QOS is far higher than the US, and the service is markedly cheaper, and I would say, generally more accessible than it is in the US.

There would be considerable US pushback against such a system, sadly.