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Many thanks for all the comments from across the Pond! I completely agree that we only have small hills unlike the mountains you have, but they still manage to cause a lot of trouble. We have a great many small hills and in the Autumn (Fall) our leaves create a huge problem with slipping. <br />With regard to whether it was better in the UK when the railways were nationalised, there were many pros and cons to this. British Rail was too big and there was a great deal of apathy among some employees, but then there was also a great deal of pride among others. Privatisation has led to many situations where connections can't be made because one company simply isn't interested in holding connections for a train operated by another, unless there is some likely financial gain from doing so. At least there was some obligation to make connections with British Rail. <br />Freight is influenced by the Channel Tunnel these days, which has stimulated the market, but traffic internal to the UK is often better going by road throughout, due to the shorter distances. <br />A final comment for now, think of the distance between LA and San Francisco which presently takes 11 hours (plus a bus ride!). It's just about exactly the same distance as Paris to Marseille in France, which has many trains every day, taking exactly three hours for the fastest, and not much more for those which stop once or twice on the way. Although New York to LA by train will never compete with flying, SF to LA in 3 hours (and of course there are other examples) would surely be an incentive for business passenger traffic. Investing in fast trains between cities this far apart could be a good thing for America, and one day the conscience of the rest of the world on pollution might even convince you that such incredibly cheap car travel (and subsidised - ie. you don't pay directly for using the roads except for the occasional toll routes) really isn't good for the environment!!!
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