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Most of the early eastern railroads in the United States were financed by European creditors with help from local and state governments.  As examples, the Baltimore and Ohio was funded in part through bonds issued by the City of Baltimore.  The Pennsylvania Railroad received financial support from the State of Pennsylvania. The first so-called transcontinental roads were financed initially by the federal government through the Pacific Railway Acts, which authorized the issuance of government bonds and grants of lands to the railroads.  The bonds and grants were critical for the funding of the railway lines.  They acted like seed money to draw in funding from private investors.  Once the projects appeared to be viable, European and American creditors joined the party.  Without the government backed funds and land grants, capitalists probably would not have supported the construction of the transcontinental railroad, at least not as early as the 1860s. The creditors (local, state, and federal governments, as well as private investors) expected to get back their principal and interest.  Most of them did.  However, there were some nasty scandals associated with the financing of the Central and Union Pacific railroads, and some of the investors got a haircut. The highways, airways, and waterways in the United States, because they are common access facilities, have been funded for the most part by governments, i.e. federal, state, county, city, etc.  They are not expected to make a profit.  The users are expected to pay for them, thereby retiring the debt that was incurred to build and maintain them.  For the most part they have done so.  However, because of the convoluted pricing mechanisms in the United States, it is not always clear to the casual observer that the users have paid for them.  Commercial carriers pay a proportional share of the recovery cost embedded in the facilities that they use.  Their payments are usually in the form of fuel taxes, fees, property taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, etc.  Whether they pay their fair share is an arguable point.  Motorists pay their proportional share in the form of fuel taxes, excise taxes, fees, and property taxes.  America's airlines, trucking firms, intercity bus lines, barge operators, etc. either make money or they go out of business.  Most of these firms are public corporations.  In addition to the user taxes and fees mentioned in the preceding paragraph, they pay corporate income taxes to federal, state, and sometimes local governments.  In 2010, as an example, J.B. Hunt paid approximately $120 million in federal and state income taxes.  Income taxes flow into general funds, and some of them flow back to transport trust funds to help pay for the construction and maintenance of the transport infrastructure. The problem for passenger rail is found in the numbers.  It holds little promise of covering its costs, i.e. operating and capital costs.  Accordingly, the only potential investors for passenger rail (high speed and otherwise) are governments, which is another way of saying we the people (taxpayers).  This is the reason that the governors of Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin, amongst others, have pushed back on the proposals.  There are no other investors, and they don't think that the projects will recover their costs from the users.  It has nothing to do with capitalism or socialism or any other ism.  It has to do with economics.  If the users will not or cannot pay for it, the taxpayers will be on the hook for the deficits.     Last Sunday I drove 170 miles to attend a symphony concert in Dallas.  I would have liked to have been able to catch a train to get there and back.  Unfortunately, not enough people in Texas share my desire.  Accordingly, there is no viable market for intercity passenger rail in the Lone Star state, high speed or snail speed.  Until there is a market for it, which will happen in time because of congestion, I don't support building out a passenger rail system that will be an additional drain on the taxpayers, most of whom would never use it.
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