why is rail travel in the US such a miserable failure

It depends on where you are actually. Public transit works very well in a number of big cities. Boston is a good example of this (who would want to drive in Boston??)

My considered opinion is because we Americans are an independant, individualistic lot that demand to be able to go wherever we want, whenever we want.
And, we're wedded to our automobiles. Gasoline has been cheap here for years and that is allowed most everyone to have a car.

Our love affair with automobiles is largely to blame.Also after WW2 plane travel became popular due to the long distances involved in travel in the USA.When fuel becomes so expensive that u have to sell ur first born son to be able to take a trip by car or plane that might change.We should be working on high speed rail service in the USA right now.But it will take demand from the people to make that happen.Til then we r going to continue to sink further into the bottomless pit our dependency on foreign oil has created.

Our trains at one time carried us all. The trains always had drawbacks. They traveled on a timetable that was not always convenient & only traveled where there were tracks.

The short answer to ur question is the following question:
Why should l travel by train when l can get there faster driving or flying.

Driving l can go whenever l want & park very close to my destination.
Flying there takes only hours & there r numerous flights leaving all day.
It is all a matter of convenience.

Actually, u r only partly right, it is indeed a national embarassement, & it is mostly a matter of funding.
First class passenger rail service is dependent on ongoing dedicated public funding.
Ridership is up in every sector of Amtrak & they have a good deal of new equipment which is very nice.
We as a voting public have not made our elected representatives realize we really want an efficient public transportation system. They rarely see beyond their next election & that sort of thinking is not what we need to build & maintain a good system.
It takes vision & forward thinking, something we sadly lack in Washington.

We love our cars.its just that simple.but as the price of gas continues to rise.rail travel will improve..

You may see it as a failure but it is profiting where as the automotive and air industry is stocks are not doing so well.

who says its a miserable failure. lately with gas prices going up people are taking public transportation. since people took to there car to get every where with 2 bucks or less gas that we so liked. now if gas goes up like there talking about then more people will take to rails more and more.