By Dan Conderman, Edgerton, WI

I live in a town with a damn train depot. There are train tracks literally right there. You can hear the rumble, see the lights, feel the nostalgia of an era when trains brought towns to life. Yet somehow, in 2025, I can’t get on one.

Not to Madison.
Not to Milwaukee.
Not to Janesville, Rockford, or even Chicago.

What the hell happened?

A Country That Left Itself Behind

We used to be a nation of rails. Trains built this country—brought goods, people, and prosperity to every corner. Now? The only trains most folks can catch are delayed Amtraks running on tracks they don’t even own, constantly pulling over to let freight trains barrel through like they own the place. Because they do.

Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern—pick your mega-rail baron. They own the lines, and despite federal law saying they’re supposed to share with passenger rail, they almost never do. A fruit-laden freight car moving from California to Chicago? That’s worth a fortune. You think they’re pulling over for a dozen passengers and a cafe car? Nope.

And these companies? They don’t want to pay property taxes on the land their billion-dollar trains run across. They whine, lobby, and skirt accountability while keeping public infrastructure locked away like a dragon hoarding treasure.

My Modest Proposal: Public Rails for the Public

Here’s the radical idea:
Make railroads public.

Just like the interstate highway system. Just like airports. You want to run a train on it? Fine—get a license, prove your train is safe, and go. But the idea that every passenger service has to beg and bribe some rail monopoly for track time? Insanity.

The federal government built these rails, often through land seizures and sweetheart deals during the golden age of rail. These tracks were forged with tax dollars, public land, and labor from generations of Americans. But now they’re gatekept by companies who actively sabotage passenger service, all while acting like we owe them a thank you.

Imagine This

It’s Saturday. You grab a coffee, kiss your dog, and walk down to the old Edgerton Depot. A sleek, two-car self-driving train glides in—quiet, electric, comfortable.

You hop on.
Windows curve above your head in the glass-roof observatory car.
Your kids are already FaceTiming Grandma from the booth next to the pancake griddle.
The train glides past Rock County farmland, then drops you in downtown Madison in 42 minutes—refreshed, relaxed, and ready for the farmer’s market.

That’s not a fantasy. It’s already happening—in Europe, Japan, China.

We just refuse to do it here. Why?

Because We’ve Let the Freight Companies Kill It

And we’ve let them do it for decades.

So here’s what I say:
You don’t like paying taxes on land you use to make billions? Fine—sell the rails back.
You don’t want to stop for passenger trains? You don’t get to own the road anymore.

Turn the tracks into a public trust, just like highways. Make it possible for public and private passenger rail companies to emerge—ones that put local communities first.

Let’s Make It Easy Again

Trains shouldn’t just be cross-country adventures for retirees or rare Amtrak unicorns.

They should be:

• How your teenager gets to college in Madison.
• How you go out for a date night in Chicago without spending 4 hours in traffic.
• How families reconnect with the land and each other while seeing America from a window, not a windshield.

We’re not stuck in the past—we’re being held hostage by it.

It’s time we took our rails back.

Dan Conderman is a writer, thinker, and enthusiast for all things practical, nostalgic, and just a little rebellious. He’s based in Edgerton, Wisconsin, where trains still rumble by—but none of them stop.