We have an answer to that question. The answer is "Conrail" and "Amtrak". You can fairly argue that those were both very half-assed attempts to socialize the se

We have an answer to that question. The answer is "Conrail" and "Amtrak". You can fairly argue that those were both very half-assed attempts to socialize the services, and were honestly both expected to fail from the start, but you can't say it hasn't been tried. The results were neither a failure nor a panacea. There is something more than a simple primary driving force like private/public interest needed to explain whats going on.