Originally Posted by
myrridin
I design roads and rail systems, so I know what I am speaking about. Roads are much cheaper than rail. They are also more flexible than rail. That is why roads have essentially superseded rail in the vast majority of cases. There are only a very few situations where rail can be economically competitive.
So no, rail is not cheaper than the alternatives...
Yeah, but aren't railways much, much cheaper to move freight and passengers? Where trucks really miss the boat is on both labor and cost of fuel. It tends to cost much more. However, some claim that rail is only cheaper on longer routes.
http://www.kehoe.org/owen/portfolio/truck_vs_rail.pdf