You also forgot about the private interests in building the rail. We can't have the government doing this, that's insane. Instead we need to find a way to funnel money to Union Pacific so they park their 2 mile long cargo trains for 3 hours blocking all amtrak trains. Then they can keep collecting maintenance fees which they pocket for decades until a train derails, at which point they begrudgingly replace some of the rotting lumber that's been there for 200 years.

That's the true american capitalist way. Anything else is just too expensive.