The history of the ownership of railroads in the United States is pretty interesting. On the east side of the United States, it's a dramatic back and forth between private and state ownership.

Who will build the railroads? They were initially built and owned by several private organizations.

However, the railroads were nationalized in 1917 by same president that signed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. It only lasted until 1920. The end result was an Interstate Commerce Commision (ICC) with expanded powers that could intervene in the market.

Around the time of the introduction and expanding market of planes, cars and trucks, railroads were having difficulty remaining profitable. The ICC capped rates and limited the ability to close railroads. This ultimately led towards the Eastern U.S. railroads being nationalized again with a new organization called Conrail (Consolidated Rail Corporation).

Eventually the ICC removed the capped rates and Conrail was able to become profitable again. Afterwards, Conrail transitioned to be privately owned and was split between Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation.

Today both Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation have a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines on the east side of United States.