national railways, rail transportation services owned and operated by national governments. 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.

The ownership of rail companies varies significantly by country, typically falling into two categories: State-owned (Nationalized) or Private (Privatized). In most of the world, including France (SNCF), Germany (Deutsche Bahn), and India (Indian Railways), the rail infrastructure and the primary passenger services are owned and operated by the national government as a public utility. In the United States, the infrastructure (the tracks) is almost entirely owned by private "Freight" companies like BNSF, Union Pacific, and CSX, while the national passenger service, Amtrak, is a "quasi-public" corporation receiving government subsidies but operated as a business. In the United Kingdom, the model is a hybrid: the tracks are owned by a government body (Network Rail), but the actual train services are run by private companies (like Avanti West Coast or GWR) under government contracts. In 2026, there is a growing global trend toward "Open Access" operators—private companies that pay a fee to run their own trains on state-owned tracks, such as Italo in Italy or Brightline in Florida, which is the only privately owned and operated high-speed rail in the U.S.