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During the 1970s, if I remember correctly, a proposal was made to have the federal government buy the U. S. railway infrastructure.  It was during a period when the railroads were struggling.  The idea was to make the rights-of-way available to any operator that could meet the operating standards, much like a public highway.  The railroad companies and unions pushed back hard.  They did not want to compete with other common rail carriers.  The proposal was a nonstarter.Amtrak is a government owned railroad.  It owns the railway from Washington to Spuyten Duyve and New Rochelle, as well as from New Haven to Pawtucket and New Haven to Springfield.  It also owns the line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg and several small segments in other parts of the country.  The whole line from Washington to Boston is owned by a government or government entity and leased to the operators.  On its segments of the NEC Amtrak leases operating rights to freight carriers and commuter operators.Amtrak owns 46 of its 525 stations.  Many of the others are owned by a local government, which acquired them with tax free municipal financing like that used to fund most of the nation's commercial airports. Amtrak carries nearly 50 per cent of the commercial passengers between Washington and New York on its government railroad.  But it only totes six per cent of the passengers going from Washington to Boston.  The lowest one way weekday air fares from Washington to New York range from $84 to $114, compared to $146 to $188 on the Acela and $69 to $98 on a regional train.  The air fares are $79 to $301 from Washington to Boston compared to $166 to $211 on the Acela and $83 to $118 for a regional train.  New York to Boston airfares range from $94 to $114 compared to $102 on the Acela and $59 to $84 on the regional train.In 2007 the NEC trains covered their avoidable costs and contributed $258.3 million toward the interest and depreciation associated with the NEC.  It still had a $185.3 million deficit, assuming 80 per cent of the interest and depreciation is chargeable to the NEC.  If Amtrak was required to cover all of its costs, it would have to raise its NEC fares by an average of $18.50 per ticket.  And it would have to raise them further if it was expected to provide a return on equity.  According to Alex Kummant, it would take approximately $7 billion of capital investments to make the NEC a truly high speed railroad.  Doing so would lop an estimated 25 minutes off the running time from Washington to New York and allow an average speed of 96.9 mph.  If it attracted the same number of riders as in 2007, this would add another $55.25 to the average ticket price, assuming that the capital investments were depreciation over a 30 life, and the government owned railroad was able to borrow the funds at the Treasury long bond interest rate.     With the exception of the highest airfare, traveling on the Acela is more expensive than flying.  However, traveling on a regional train can be less expensive than taking the plane.  If Amtrak was required to recover its current costs, adding an average of $18.50 to the ticket prices shown above would close the regional train - plane price gap significantly.  And the cost of a true high speed railroad would push the fares even higher.  The train is time competitive for downtown Washington to downtown New York traffic, but it is not competitive for time sensitive Washington to Boston traffic.  It is, of course, competitive for many intermediate city pairs.These numbers tell us is that government ownership of the railroad is not a magic bullet.  They also tell us that passenger trains, no matter where they are found, have a tough time competing with other forms of transportation because of their capital intensive nature.  This is especially true in the case of a high speed railroad like the TGV that was built from scratch.
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