Biographical note: KainJohn F.: John F. Kain is Professor of Economics and Professor of City Planning, Harvard University.MeyerJohn R.: John R. Meyer was the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation Emeritus at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Once an icon of American industry, railroads fell into a long decline beginning around the turn of the twentieth century. Overburdened with regulation and often displaced by barge traffic on government-maintained waterways, trucking on interstate highways, and jet aviation, railroads measured...