Well said!
This is already happening in areas which were in danger of losing rail service. Either local government or a public entity such as an Economic Development Corporation purchases the tracks. The rails then become a public utility. Without the burden of property taxes and upkeep, the railroads are able to operate at a profit, taking many large trucks off our overburdened, crumbling roads.
Also, when the rails are publicly owned, this fosters competition. BNSF not giving you good service? No problem- have Norfolk Southern come in and haul your freight instead. Or buy a couple used locomotives, hire crews, and haul it yourself.
We could dispatch trains on a national network just as we do aircraft.
The wretched state of our rail network is a national disgrace. I propose, instead of pouring billions into new highways which will be overcrowded as soon as they open, we build the Ronald Wilson Reagan system of Interstate and Defense Railways, to compliment the Eisenhower Interstate Highway system. Heavy welded rail, high and wide clearances, multiple tracks, engineered for freights at 100 mph and passenger trains at 125 plus.
The technolgy exists today to protect level crossings from intrustion- the railroads can't and won't spend the money. These new railways will be either grade-separated at crossings or protected by fences and a product similar to Energy Aborption's Stopgate:
http://www.energyabsorption.com/products/permanent/stopgate.htm
Eventually I can see most of the nation's railways being managed in the same way highways, airports, waterways and seaports are managed. Government maintains the tracks, private companies run the trains. Everybody wins.
BTW I am assuming that some of the cost would be borne by extending "highway" taxes to railroads' diesel fuel, by registration and inspection on railroad locomotives, and perhaps ton/mile taxes on shipments.
The air-traffic control system is financed by taxes and fees paid by the airline passengers. (I expect the entire system to be privatized in the very near future, as the ATC systems have been privatized in over a dozen other countries.) Most airports also charge passenger fees. Altogether, taxes and fees add about 16% to the price of an airline ticket.
That is a far cry from having the government pick up 50% of the operating costs and 100% of the construction costs of passenger rail.
As for having the government own and maintain the rails—the suggestion makes me cringe. What makes you think that the government can operate a business better than the private sector?