As to investing, I had proposed in this forum a long time ago that Amtrak have outside investors buy and provide rolling stock with those investors getting some the benefit of the additional availability of seats/rooms. Instead, Amtrak screwed over the private car owners who were trying to do just that by paying Amtrak to transport those private cars in which the car owners would sell "experiential service" rooms.
So, would I trust Amtrak to sell bonds or trust a company that wants to do such a thing? Not a chance. Amtrak is too risky and too expensive. Hey, I am looking into renting a private car for a trip and Amtrak's charges vastly exceed the cost of the car rental itself. That tells me Amtrak doesn't want others involved.
As to the European operation, it sounds like their costs for use of the track (and transportation of the cars?) are likely to give them a chance to be successful.
