The comments about what we are going to leave for the grandchildren and the (probability) of having to make future repairs to a "public" facility steered right to where I was going to go when I started reading this. Things in this country (especially) are absolutely heading in a direction where people reading, hearing, or seeing a news item--especially one that involves the use of tax money or whatever $$ some corporate entity is throwing around--will typically come down to the individual first asking "How does this affect me". As a "power", we have entered the phase of personal affluence and self-importance. When it comes to how the pie gets divided, we first wonder which candidate (or bureaucrat) is going to "gimme". People don't tend to think about anything farther out than "what will pleasure me most until this current day is through?" The very reporting of a governmental arm looking to decide on which rail line is going to have money spent on it is ludicrous to a population which first says, "My kid needs new Nikes. Give them to me", or "I am old. I need free wonder drugs", or "My street has a pothole. Fill it". A self-centered populace would much rather see some "old rail line" turned into a bike/hike trail "that we can all enjoy". (That rail line only hauls lumber anyway and we shouldn't cut down trees (because I like trees)). People aren't thinking about feed grain that goes to dairy cattle who make Tillamook cheese!!! Those cows exist and fatten on clean air and pure water and fresh grass. It is a shortsighted society that won't understand things until "their" highway gets rutted and "they" get stuck behind 3 slow trucks on the way to the beach (THEIR beach).
As was mentioned--If we really want a "Nanny State" where everything is done for us, then we might just have to go all the way (I HOPE NOT). "We" currently want to be taken care of, but also want to make lots of money. There are plenty of people who cringe at a rail line closing down who also just want to know that their 401K is making a big profit--one that might come because one of the companies hidden in our Mutual Fund might be RailAmerica (or our UP or BNSF stock performance will be better if they can only shed those unprofitable lines). While our media dumbs us into unconscionable stupidity, our Government spends us into unbelievable debt. Yes, we need the rail network, but will anybody listen? Don't bother them, "Dancing with the Desperate Housewives" is on.