This is probably unachievable in Western countries, since they expect the metro systems to make a profit, which makes no sense whatsoever.

It's the difference between making profit

• Widening gulf between price and cost, then pocketing the difference

And value

• Widening the gulf between cost and utility, then increasing the overall value of the economic system

Businesses are absolutely profiting off Chinese HSR. They just aren't the rail network operators. They're the operator's clients.

Incidentally, America does have comparable systems. We just do it for cars and planes, not trains