Re:The world is full of wasted motion
by zdkl on Thursday February 04, 2021 @05:13AM
(#26024189)
That's a weird area to to want to de-socialise costs! If trucking costs go up to cover wear, urban end-users probably won't notice much cost difference (bit of change to last-mile infrastructure at most) while remote communities would be bled dry then cutoff (where the "last-mile" location is impractical for tracks). And probably the same fate for small and medium agricultural concerns who won't necessarily be able to privately link up to the network.
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How comes 100yr ago it was practical to build narrow gauge everywhere (in the mountains nevertheless - in hungarian carpathians, to haul lumber and ore, but once built it was used for passengers too) but now suddenly it's a problem?
Similarly with electricity - long time ago it was possible to electrify remote communities but now pulling fiber there is such a problem that we view satellites as better alternative?
The physical and public safety requirements on railroad tracks demands different parameters. Also, there was significant community and government buy-in for lack of alternative. Cost-of-living adjusted, those tracks you mention would cost astronomical sums by todays standards.