>" Why is it that Japan, Hong Kong and most developed European cities have much better rail transportation? Japan is an interesting comparison because the line

>" Why is it that Japan, Hong Kong and most developed European cities have much better rail transportation? Japan is an interesting comparison because the lines are private and independently owned and so there's competition[1]. Once upon a time the NYC train line were private and independently owned they were the BMT, IRT and the IND[2]. You still vestiges of this in some stations. At any rate it was thought that that having privately owned train lines might allow them to hold the city hostage and so they were bought by the city. Obviously there's a great irony in that now. [1] https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2011/10/why-tokyos-privately-owned-rail-systems-work-so-well/389/ https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2011/10/why-tokyos-pr... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/30/nyregion/about-new-york-alphabet-soup-telling-an-irt-from-a-bmt.html http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/30/nyregion/about-new-york-al...