There are other reasons to consider electrification. The Northeast corridor was electrified as a solution to the smoke issue caused by coal fired steam locomotives in densely populated areas.

With few exceptions,rail in the US doesn't present the level of traffic needed to make electrification cost effective. The investment in physical plant is substantial no matter how you approach it and it is LONG term investment, something that most stock holders are unfamiliar with in this society of day trading and profit taking.
Granted ,there are several lines in this country that would benefit from being electric and those railroads would jump at the chance if the cost was not so high.

Locomotives would be a relatively simple thing to do. Hybrids have already been done EMD built FL-9 units for the New Haven so that changing locomotives would not be necessary when entering Grand Central Terminal in New York, They are still running, built in 1957.