Re:China has built the world’s largest bullet-train network
by vkou on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @01:50PM
(#13420004)
They don't have to be popular, but the regulators are happy to disregard that problem, and fast-track approval.
On the other hand, none of the regulators would even consider doing that to lay a train track.
My point is that nobody tries to build a rail line, because they know it's a hopeless affair - they will never get approval.
I'm not sure what your second point is getting at. Rail lines face pretty huge eminent domain burdens along with everything else.
My point was mostly that the hurdles of building rail and pipelines are both quite high. The economic benefit of oil pipelines are enough to make them worth the trouble to a private firm. Rail, not so much.