How would one go about starting a train line?

Question

cargo & passenger

Answer 1

Start by getting familiar with all the existing lines in your region and the freight possibilities of each.  (not passenger.)   Find out

- Which lines are close to being abandoned

- Which lines are dormant but have potential customers

Find the suitable line, find the customers, and make a business plan.  Then make good on the business plan and rake in the phat loot!

Don't laugh, three teenagers started a rail line in Michigan.  

http://www.southernmichiganrailroad.org/...

Keep an eye on ethanol, it's booming and ethanol must must ship by rail.  Of course it's hazmat (because of the gasoline they mix it with) so, fun fun!

As for passengers, run a tourist train on the line.   If it's in a metro area, you'd be drowned in government hassles trying to run a commuter train, so run your tourist train during commute hours.

Answer 2

With really deep pockets.

Answer 3

with a single spike

Answer 4

The biggest problem these days is acquiring the land. In the old days, there wasn't much population between cities, now it's so crowded, there's not much undeveloped land, much less "free" land, available for railroads to expand greatly. Nowadays, you have to get government permission, make political and environmental studies of the effects of the proposed railway, etc, etc., so it's just not financially viable to try to start a new railroad, unless you can buy up old right-of-ways that are abandoned, and reuse them for a different kind of freight or passenger service.

Answer 5

first get a project report prepared based on your perception.

it's not for individual entrepreneurship.

Answer 6

Really, you can't start a new one.  The problem is getting land to lay the rails on (right of way.)  It's virtually impossible for even well established railroads with millions of dollars to do.  It has taken the Dakota Minneasota & Eastern Railroad about a decade to get a major expansion approved, and they still haven't broken ground yet.  There hasn't been any significant new rail lines put down for over 60 years that I'm aware of.

Kent in SD