American railways are primarily privately owned, with freight companies investing their own money into the system. In contrast, most European railways are publicly owned and funded by taxpayers.
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The simple answer is that most railroads in Europe are government owned, while most railroads in America are private.
In Europe, the vast majority of rails are state-owned. Even in the United Kingdom, which privatized their system in 1997, many of the lines are currently operated by other countries' national rail companies.
U.S. railways are privately owned and operated, though the Consolidated Rail Corporation was established by the federal government and Amtrak uses public funds to subsidize privately owned intercity passenger trains.
Who owns and runs the UK's railways? Britain's rail network was first nationalised by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee in 1948 and then privatised again under Sir John Major's Conservatives in 1993. Network Rail, which runs railway infrastructure in England, Scotland, and Wales, is publicly owned.
The French state originally took 51% ownership of SNCF and invested large amounts of public subsidies into the system. Today, SNCF is wholly owned by the French state.
Deutsche Bahn is Germany's main railway company, owned by the German government. It started operating in 1994, as a result of combining the previous two government railway companies existing before Germany's reunification in 1990 - Deutsche Bundesbahn (in Western Germany) and Deutsche Reichsbahn.
There is, however, an American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners and a Railroad Passenger Car Alliance, which goes to show that owners are out there. And for those lucky few, Amtrak's service is one of the best ways to travel significant distances.
Despite being privatised in 1987, the Japanese still see their railway services as their national railway (with any other providers labelled as the 'private railways').
Seven UK railways are operated or partly-operated by Dutch state railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), including Merseyrail, Scotrail and the West Midlands Railway. Seven railways are operated fully or partly by French state railway SNCF, including Transport for Wales and the Thameslink.
The RATP Group (French: Groupe RATP), also known as the RATP or Régie autonome des transports parisiens (English: Parisian Autonomous Transport Administration), is a state-owned public transport operator and maintainer headquartered in Paris, France.