Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard
by PhasmaFelis on Saturday June 17, 2017 @11:39PM
(#14578849)
Isn't the initial track-laying cost the #1 obstacle to rail transport? IIRC it takes decades at least to break even with normal profits. I can't see any new train technology being successful unless it either fixes that problem or does something really impressive (e.g. supersonic speeds a la Hyperloop).
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Re:An 89-year-old Reinventing the Train in His Backyard
by ant6n on Sunday June 18, 2017 @11:43AM
(#14581119)
Decades to break even means like 5% ROI. Given how nobody seems to know where to stuff money these days (especially pension funds), the main concern is increasing the probability of success (i.e. make the risk profile match the returns).