[crisopolis]

So can't a private railroad company build new tracks? For instance we know that traffic is bound by a interstate highway to get from City A to City B. It clogs with traffic due to a aging bridge and losing lanes.

Can my railroad company, acquire all the land necessary to build a station on both sides and track between them and then start to fan out from there?

Besides the property owners who can stop me?

[toast0]

Getting mostly straight line access between A and B is going to be amazingly difficult, and more so as you get closer and the property owners get more and more stubborn, because you're invested. 99% of a rail route isn't very useful, and doing a jog around a stubborn parcel owner isn't very possible.

Realistically, you need eminent domain, a frontier environment, or a super motivated population.

[niftich]

To build a rail line (or extension) in the US, you must ask the Surface Transportation Board for authority [1]. They also conduct an analysis of environmental impacts.

[1] https://www.stb.gov/stb/public/resources_construct.html

[antonvs]

> Besides the property owners who can stop me?

Lack of profitability.

[betterunix2]

Technically, yes, but in practice it is an enormous expense that will likely never pay for itself. In New Jersey, laying less than 8 miles of tracks on an existing (abandoned, de-tracked) right-of-way in the middle of nowhere and building one station cost more than $60 million:

https://www.njherald.com/20171221/train-station-restored-rai...

[burlesona]

Environmental review.