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Before the Railroad
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<p>[quote user="Dragoman"]</p> <p>But that is only <em>after</em> the much higher cost of building those steel wheels and steel rails -- the cost of the infrastructure. How should those costs get figured into the calculations?</p> <p>And isn't that the heart of so many discussions on these (and other rail-related) forums, whether about HSR, or long-distance rail, or the history of the transcontinental railroads?</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div> <p>[/quote]</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I think that is a fair point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned, the number-one virtue of railroads is low friction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The number-one drawback is the amount of capital it takes to achieve that low friction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that matter, water transport probably has even lower friction, but only at the lowest speeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want high speed and low friction, and some routes have enough potential traffic to justify a railroad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other routes only justify a highway.</span></span></span></p>
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