I know that they have better systems for trains in general, but all of those countries also have a much smaller area to cover by train than America. It's no surprise that the quality of trip with a train there would be much higher.
US actually has (arguably) the worlds best freight rail system in large part because the size makes long distance trucking less appealing. The real issue is cars and air traffic is heavily subsidized and freight has priority on most lines.
PS: For comparison the entire EU moved less than 1/10th a much freight miles (Mass * distance) as the US dispite having a similar sized economy.
To be fair, the EU has more ports and a shorter distance from ports to the final destination, and ships are more fuel efficient than rail, so there's less need for long distance rail transport in the EU.
In researching that, I came across http://www.trforum.org/journal/downloads/2013v52n2_04_Freigh... , which argues that (in 2000) 83% of the differences in ton-miles can be explained by increased use of sea/non-surface mode transport, reduced distances, and a commodity mix, specifically coal transport. (Something like 40% of US rail tonnage-miles from coal, while it's about 15% of the EU's.)
I'd be curious as to what the growth of rail freight is like in the US — I know it's been increasing year-after-year in the EU, ever since the rail freight market was opened up to competition.
