• Fedizen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    How many private road networks exist in the US?

    The problem is a lot of the costs of highways are externalized: cars are more expensive to run than trains, parking is more space costly, roads require dedicating much larger amounts of space for lower capacity. The reality is car roads cost more but are subsidized more.

    • Primarily0617@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The cost to construct a new rail connection is significantly higher than the cost to construct a new road connection. Subsidies don’t enter into it.

      If somebody says they have an easy and low cost solution for you, you’d be annoyed if it turned out that it was actually far harder and pricier until maybe 50 years down the line.

      • Isoprenoid@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        The cost to construct a new rail connection is significantly higher than the cost to construct a new road connection.

        Correct. Now compare the cost of maintenance, and then compare the cost of actually moving the items.

        Let’s see which comes out on top when we compare all costs, not just the cost of building.

        • Primarily0617@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          rail lines are also more expensive than roads to maintain

          the cost of moving your items depends entirely on how many items you move—sometimes roads will be cheaper, and sometimes rails will be cheaper

          • Isoprenoid@programming.dev
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            1 year ago

            rail lines are also more expensive than roads to maintain

            That’s because they transport more material than roads.

            The NZ government did a thought experiment where they shifted all rail to road, and the maintenance costs would increase by $105 million.

            Keep in mind the rail system in NZ is underdeveloped.

            Source: https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/assets/Uploads/documents/2021-Value-of-Rail-report.pdf

            If you want to shift the most materials from one place to another at the cheapest rate, you would use rail.

            the cost of moving your items depends entirely on how many items you move—sometimes roads will be cheaper, and sometimes rails will be cheaper

            Do you mean cost to the end consumer or actual expenditure? Are you including CAPEX? What are you actually talking about?

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Maybe consider different framing: If 50 years ago we had budgeted as much public money on public railroads as roads, we’d be in a much better position today and its even more likely this trend will continue.