[adrianN]

As I understand it, railway companies in Japan are real estate companies in disguise. They own the land around the stations and make a significant chunk of their money from that. Real estate around train stations is quite valuable.

[barry-cotter]

Isn’t that model illegal in the US?

[manigandham]

No, why would it be? Any company can own real estate. Here's a more in-depth article explaining it: https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2012/05/secret-tokyos...

[alteria]

The big transcontinental railroads own several feet around the railroad, which is prime real estate for cables and the like.

[vidanay]

Historical note: A significant portion of that land was granted by the US government in the 19th century to incentivize westward expansion.

[beerandt]

I think you mean several miles. Which is why the PLSS grid looks like a checkerboard out west. Alternating sections for the public and the RR companies.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land)

[evanelias]

It's legal and it's a model being increasingly adopted in the US, for better or worse. In the NYC metro area, both Port Authority and NJ Transit are visibly leaning on this model to drive revenue.