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Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create a scenario in which either...
The U.S. rail industry is completely nationalized
The U.S. rail network is nationalized, while trains are operated by private carriers
This situation must last for at least 10 years in peacetime, though war may serve as an initial impetus (in OTL the rail industry was nationalized from 1917 to 1920 as a result of World War I, but support of continued nationalization was apparently quite limited).