Well in a capitalistic society, investors give an entreprenuer money to build a business which then pays them a return on their investment generated from operations. No government funds are involved. Or sometimes the gov't will pay a portion of the capital costs. The investors you cite are not doing that, but rather putting forth a little seed money, in the hopes of being paid far, far more money from the government for construction(not operational) contracts. One-time projects, not an ongoing successful enterprise. And you darn well know that the operational subsidies required from the government for this route would be larger than for the existing, or even improved, Amtrak service. So if it requires gov't operating subsidies, than it is by definition a money-losing proposition. At least Amtrak has 4 private companies competing for the operating rights of Amtrak. How many are competing for the operating rights of maglev?
You can call me all the childish names you want, but its a pretty basic distinction from capitalism 101. Socialism might rewrite the definition of investoring to include those who put forth only lobbying exenses, but not Wall Street.
The investors you cite are not doing that, but rather putting forth a little seed money, in the hopes of being paid far, far more money from the government for construction(not operational) contracts.Well, your ADD is flairing up again, so I'll repeat for you a second time:
"Additional segments of the system would be financed by private and public partnerships. The system operating costs must be proven to be sufficient to support the investment costs and associated profit while in operation."
In other words, if the 47 mile pilot segment doesn't prove itself financially viable in operation, the rest of the system doesn't get built. Considering the long-term promise of 300 mph high-speed ground passenger service, $900 million is a very small amount of federal funds to prove the technology.
Furthermore, it is far and away less than government spends on other transportation infrastructure, highways, airports, etc.