Warren Buffet (as Berkshire Hathaway) bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) for a reason - it is very profitable.
The merger of Canadian Pacific with Kansas City Southern is even larger, and is now a railway that spans North America from Vancouver to Veracruz.
The freight railway system in North America is massive.
Yes but we're not talking about freight. HSR is never used for that.
Amtrack mostly runs on freight lines. BNSF actually controls a Metra line in Chicago out of their headquarters.