Yeah, in Germany 'wooden' railroad ties are concrete and the rail 'spikes' are screws. :-) High speed rail basically requires concrete ties for rigidity so that is about all that is used in Europe. Most of the US still uses relatively slow trains and wood ties work fine for that and are less expensive. Also, wood is a lot more plentiful in the US then it is in most of the developed world so we tend to use it more than other modern countries. That was one of the big attractions of North America to the Brits; the old growth wood that was big, tall and straight enough to serve as ships masts after there was none left in Britain.
That automated track laying equipment really is impressive, great video.
Brian
Plasser (German company), which makes that type of equipment, is one of my clients. They have a plant in Chesapeake, VA. They make the 09-3X here in the States. Don't know if they export it, though. More than likely it's sourced in Germany. The video is of a Belgian railroad. I don't think we use too much concrete ties here. It's done but not a lot.
http://plasseramerican.com
Nice people.