And on a second thought: A politically unpopular move right now, and one with its own list of costs and troubles, but one that would revolutionize rail travel in the United States to a level where great benefits for all were to be had: Nationalization of the rail infrastructure. Buy out the right-of-way from all railroad operators and operate them under the same rules as the interstate system is ran. A blanket statement that requires a large amount of detail that cannot be placed into this limited discussion, but in the simple terms it would level the transportation field across all modes. The independent companies continue to operate the same in terms of traffic, and vie for the contracts to maintain and construct the lines like road construction companies do under the respective State DOTs. All above the rail costs are the concerns of the operators, all below the rail costs are the concern of the DOT. Users pay a fee, based on weight and mile, and a separate Railway Trust Fund is established to support the system and let it expand.
Amtrak remains, and perhaps slowly migrates toward that ultimate goal of being an independent company on the same playing field as a legacy carrier. A pipe dream, for sure, but one that has roots in reality if the will to make it happen is fostered.
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.
Look at the sorry state of the highway infrastructure in this country, and give me one good reason why we should treat rail the same way.
The one good thing rail has going for it is that its infrastructure is largely privately owned and maintained (but federally regulated), and, with a few exceptions here and there, it WORKS.
From a passenger rail perspective, there are certainly deficiencies in the railroad network, but those could be fixed with increased investment (both public and private). In certain cases, government agencies have bought railroads for passenger operations (or even freight operations), but by and large, the railroad infrastructure is private, and in fairly good condition. The main problem with the railroad infrastructure is that there isn't enough of it, and you won't solve that problem by spending billions and billions of government dollars buying the stuff that already exists.
Our freight railroad network is the envy of the world. Why would anyone want to jeopardize that?
It hasn't been administered very well, but I think the passenger rail grants that we've seen the past few years under the Obama administration are a good way to go. Provide funding for rail development, but there's no need for the government to buy it. Some of the money can go towards purchasing a rail corridor, if that's seen to be the best option. Some can go towards building a brand new railroad (mainly for high-speed rail on its own right of way). Some can go towards fixing up existing infrastructure that remains owned by a private railroad. I'll agree, the rail funding should be on par with highways and aviation.
The way it works now, the railroads have a vested interest in seeing to it that their infrastructure is maintained to a level that matches the traffic needs. The only time that really needs any adjustment/outside intervention is when you have passenger trains in the mix. That's where the above funding comes into play, and the specific passenger corridors will have to be treated on a case-by-case basis (buying out an existing corridor, building a new ROW, or just paying to upgrade/maintain freight-owned tracks). But the freight railroad network is far larger than any passenger rail network we'll ever need, and the freight railroads maintain their own networks just fine, and to nationalize it all (for what reason?) would be just, well, stupid.
EDIT:
A couple other points that I should add.
1) Part of the reason why highway infrastructure is in such poor shape in this country is there's just too damn much of it, and it's way too expensive to maintain. If you nationalize the railroad infrastructure, then you'll have a railroad network that would be equally large and unwieldy, and capacity adjustments would be very difficult to implement (because now you're getting politics involved in what otherwise would be a simple decision of business economics - this is not to say that businesses always make the right moves, they certainly don't, but politics almost never results in the right choices being made). Then you're going to have a large expense of maintaining the tracks, and political lobbying that will have too much influence on which track gets maintained, possibly at the expense of some other track.
2) Railroads pay property taxes to the localities through which they pass through. Nationalize that, and what happens to that property tax base?
!, Skip this one if the Truth Hurts!!!
