> If you want to get a holistic picture of what these systems actually cost, it comes down to up-front investment vs ongoing costs. That's one angle to look at

> If you want to get a holistic picture of what these systems actually cost, it comes down to up-front investment vs ongoing costs. That's one angle to look at it. As I said, in a country that has more or less static travel routes, railroads will win over airports for the medium range. Because sooner or later the investment into the many tracks will pay off. But long-range and dynamic routes favors the airport. But my point was that taxing energy usage heavily will bite back. You cannot build infrastructure if energy is too expensive. So either you have cheap renewable energy, for cars as well as trains, or any mechanized transportation (and much more) will become ridiculously expensive. > gas taxes have not been raised to account for inflation Are gas taxes absolute values in the US?