Having rail operators also act as real estate companies is pure genius IMO -- it creates a profit motive for dense, transit oriented development, without any need for onerous top-down planning.
US cities are committed to prioritizing transit improvements for the same poor and marginalized communities where they are also committed to slowing gentrification by preventing development.
If it’s a place where development would be welcome then it’s an inequitable use of transit dollars. Meanwhile a transit project does not get off the ground without assurances that it will not change the places being connected.
This is actually what drove the streetcar development process in LA, but instead of renting it out, the developers/car operators just sold it and peaced out. This left the trams to atrophy, separated from the land value they drove until the car companies bought them to put a nail in the coffin.
