The latest comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal explains why the old trope of tying a damsel to the railroad tracks will no longer work the way it used to. Since this is an image, the button going to information about artist Zach Weinersmith's book won't work, but you can find it here. You'll have to go to the comic page to see the bonus hover text punch line.
Except in the Northeast Corridor, I think all of the long-distance passenger routes in the US are shared with, and primarily used by, freight trains.
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