Amtrak relaunches US Rail Pass – Travel the country for 30 days for $299

You don't have as much security concerns, you have far more legroom, and the constant ability to walk around the cabin at all times (often to the dining car where you can get overpriced beer / light meals, but... better than nothing at all). Hour-for-hour, a train ride is far more comfortable than a plane ride.

However, once we start looking at 4-hour or 8-hour train rides, the idea of a 2-hour or 3-hour plane ride just starts to make more sense, even with 30+ minutes of security + many minutes of "Taxi'ing on the runway" involved. Flying at 500mph just makes more sense than train rides at 50mph.

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An exception is when the ride itself is part of the journey: if you want to see the entire countryside, the train is superior.

Planes fly over everything and are often high up in the clouds, so you don't get to see the whole ground.

Norfolk Virginia is just a short bus-ride to Virginia Beach and serves as either the starting point, or ending point of the journey.

Travel north to Washington DC, then Philadelphia, then New York City, and then Boston. That takes you across a major cultural center of the USA that pretty much covers the founding of the country (Philadelphia being the original capital of the USA and the location of the Liberty Bell and original Continental Congress. Wash. DC as the current capitol, a beach trip just for giggles, and NYC for plays / New York talk shows / food / etc. etc.)

The train is ridiculously optimized for New York City / Washington DC, with a dropoff point in Union Station Wash. DC and Penn Station in New York City. Both are connected underground to the greater subway systems, so you pretty much have access to the entirety of both cities from the train alone. (In contrast: an airplane ticket to either location will still need an Uber / Taxi to bring you into the city proper).

Union Station in Wash. DC in particular is less than a 1-mile walk from the US Capitol building, a bit over 1-mile to the Smithsonian proper.

While Penn Station is literally next to Madison Square Garden, so you're able to just get out and enjoy some basketball events. You're on Manhattan Island proper, and the subway will take you to any reasonable tourist attraction.

But it's really $499 after the introductory offer ending already the day after tomorrow. And it's limited to 10 trips, which can be problem if you also want to do some shorter day trips e.g. in the Northeast.

Northeast regional is pretty much traversing over the megacity that is the WashDC -> New York City area. You're looking at people and culture, and probably need to plan your route very carefully (Ex: to ensure you actually have something to do in NYC, you might want to buy some Broadway tickets, or find a ticket to your favorite talk-show host).

In contrast, California Zephyr / Starlight Express has a lot more rugged mountains, stunning coastlines, and nature to explore. This is a longer route but you traverse across much more "nature" so to speak.

So it depends what you want to see.