Almost all railroads today face serious and continuing finacial problems. Furthermore, the constant low rate of return makes it difficult for the industry to attract new capital.The United States has heavily subsidized a highway system and in effect subsidizes the trucks that use it. Water and air carries are also subsidized. Most railroads are now state owned because they do in fact, require heavy subsides to keep operating. Today the only substantial rail mileage still privately owned is in Canada and the United States.In the United States, however, the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, which partially deregulated many aspects of rail. Freight operations, has allowed U.S. railroads to compete more effectively for traffic. Concurrently, hundreds of regional and local shortline railroads have sprung up as major systems have sold off trackage they could not operate profitably. Today, railroads move nearly as much freight as trucks, barges, and airlines combined, and do it with an improved techonology that has allowed them to use fewer miles of track, fewer employees, fewer locomotives, and fewer cars.

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