our railroads were nationalized in the 40s and 50s. then government shut half of them down because of retardation, a good chunk of the torn up railroads have been projected for rebuilding at exorbitant costs. shit was so bad the stockholm county had take over commuter service in the 60s after wrestling the state. anyway things started getting better in the 90s when the railroads were deregulated and the state was just one service provider and commuter and regional services began popping up everywhere. now train ridership keeps growing faster than projected. i think the ideal is that government owns and is responsible for the tracks and their maintenance, but not providing transport services. and that state or regional governments could subsidise services to rural areas when needed.
Sweden