Re:Ethiopia's planned railway network
by Shivetya on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @02:59PM
(#10623207)
Rail is point to point efficient because of load but should always be considered just one part of the equation. Branching out from there is the real key to savings, there you get your electric trucks and such which provide the flexibility of delivery that rail cannot. Same reason I always favor buses in cities over light rail, buses can adapt to changes in population that light rail cannot
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'Light Rail' is a fuzzy term; but in general any urban rail should be planned well, and should be accompanied with city planning that shouldn't allow the line to become obsolete. And that's actually not too hard - development follows rapid transit, if you let it.
Re:Ethiopia's planned railway network
by WalterBright on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @04:33PM
(#10623718)
Yup. Land near a rail station becomes quite a bit more valuable, for obvious reasons. Though here in Seattle they deliberately make it impossible to park near a rail station, then complain about low ridership.
Seattle, constrained as it is by the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and the waterways, doesn't really have much option to grow without light rail because of the capacity.
In Cambridge/Somerville MA the (status TBD) light rail Green Line Extension has apparently already caused real estate prices to rise along the route. And the fact that the plans will be delayed and may be altered/canceled is causing some consternation among those who bought assuming it would happen.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/25/possible-del...