What if railroads instead of interstates?

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Presume that Ike gets a different lesson from his disastrous post-WWI drive across the US with the army(IIRC it took over 3 months and was full of problems). Instead of deciding to copy the German autobahn in North America, he talks congress(not too hard given already existing union interests in the dems plus big business interests in the GOP who might find such a project more acceptable than they did OTL's interstates(promoting radical programs(putting in massive amounts of car-focused infrastructure is a radical divergence from say expanding and improving already existing rail))) into setting into motion a program of promoting trolleys/light rail/interurban rail, having infrastructure issues being able to be handled by multi-state commissions(this is to be able to handle), setting up a REAL national rail infrastructure and promoting urban development and expansion with a rail focus(think expansion of urban zoning(residential apartments/condos/townhouses, retail and industry in an urban manner)) to new areas instead of our America of suburban sprawls and strip malls. Presume this policy sticks like how the interstates have in OTL. What  are the implications of an America that's as car dependent on average as say Europe/Japan. What effects does this have on America? The world? Society and culture?