• usernamesaredifficul [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    the train argument really gets on my nerves yes some train lines are unprofitable but they are also vital transport infrastructure. Roads aren’t expected to turn a profit

    if people can get to job sites because of a trainline then that is economic utility produced by the train not recorded in the price of the ticket.

    • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      yes some train lines are unprofitable but they are also vital transport infrastructure

      I’m currently working in the Middle East and the growth of this place is fast; I saw black and white photos of buildings built relatively far out of the city where there was nothing around for (miles? I’m not good at gauging distances), but you know what? Decades later the city’s expanded until those same places have now been enveloped by the rest of the city. I can’t speak to the train situation in some areas of China, but it may very well be a similar situation where in several decades time it’ll be extremely important that they’re there.

    • Mataresian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Trains are vital, high speed trains aren’t. They’ve pumped out a lot of high speed train lines that simply are too expensive to maintain, and of course not to mention the potential faults in build quality.

      To reduce the amount of planes high speed trains can be a good replacement. But building too many of them isn’t going to do the train network any good on the long run if it’s not being fully utilised.