Not incidentally, the railroads in the USA had one period of remarkable efficiency and restraint: During WWI, the US government created the United States Railroad Administration to take over control of all the railroads for the duration of the war. The USRA standardized locomotives and other physical plant, ended petty inter-corporate squabbles and ran the trains for the benefit of the country rather than for the corporations. They've never run as well since. To this day the lesson remains unlearned.