Rail is fundamentally superior to roads + cars at an engineering level.
All at the same time:
Rail has a smaller footprint
Rail moves multiple times more people or cargo per hour
Rail has multiple times more fuel efficiency
The fact that USA’s policy has been designed to favor cars only makes them more ‘practical’ than rail if you consider political constraints more binding than physics constraints.
I’ll grant that trucks have tighter turning radii and maximum operating grade. If we truly only used them when those characteristics are needed THAT would be ‘practical’
You dont need to have a line to every street and a stop in front of every house. Works pretty decently when paired with the willingness to walk a couple of minutes or cycle to a stop.
Yes, I am European. And glad I moved from the countryside to a city with loads of public transport options. I use the car way less now.
What about buses for those scenarios? I can’t imagine a situation outside some huge outlier or the middle of nowhere where rail and bus were both not practical to get to a destination but cars are.
Try doing tight curves on a railroad. Try steep grades on a railroad. Try running a line to every neighborhood, with using eniment domain.
Somethings are just not practical
Aren’t you just describing how roads were built to every home in every community?
Nobody wants a train infront of every home. Thats what busses are for.
Rail is fundamentally superior to roads + cars at an engineering level.
All at the same time:
Rail has a smaller footprint
Rail moves multiple times more people or cargo per hour
Rail has multiple times more fuel efficiency
The fact that USA’s policy has been designed to favor cars only makes them more ‘practical’ than rail if you consider political constraints more binding than physics constraints.
I’ll grant that trucks have tighter turning radii and maximum operating grade. If we truly only used them when those characteristics are needed THAT would be ‘practical’
… Rail is quite adaptive.
Here are two methods for steep inclines.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolderbahn
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybahn
Id do trams
You dont need to have a line to every street and a stop in front of every house. Works pretty decently when paired with the willingness to walk a couple of minutes or cycle to a stop.
Yes, I am European. And glad I moved from the countryside to a city with loads of public transport options. I use the car way less now.
Or try putting your hands on the fuckin wheel.
What about buses for those scenarios? I can’t imagine a situation outside some huge outlier or the middle of nowhere where rail and bus were both not practical to get to a destination but cars are.
But muh edge cases!
Have you heard of the tramway?
Who upvotes this shit?