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> Rail is paid for by the rail traffic. I am very skeptical of this. If this is true, it makes rail the only transit mode not subsidized by the government. Do

> Rail is paid for by the rail traffic. I am very skeptical of this. If this is true, it makes rail the only transit mode not subsidized by the government. Do you have a source for this?

xyzzyz 5y ago
In US, passenger rail is subsidized, but freight rail is not. Freight rail in the US is a healthy industry, with steady revenues and profits.
- TylerE 5y ago
  The original construction of the rail lines in the 19th century was heavily subsidized (free land, etc).
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    But ongoing maintenance is not, and the same does not hold for highway maintenance. In fact, railroads pay property taxes in some states, so they actually bear even more cost than competing modes of transportation.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    The rail lines were obliged to in return carry the mail for free. That turned out to be a darned good deal for the government.
Scoundreller 5y ago
Depends how far back you wanna go. In Canada, in exchange for building, the railways got free land in every downtown and port, and along their lines. Along with 100% royalty-free surface and mineral rights. > 1881: Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR) began construction of the railway from Winnipeg to B.C. In exchange for building the railroad, CPR was granted 25 million acres of land. These lands included the petroleum and natural gas rights. > 1882: CPR was able to select lands from the odd numbered sections in a belt of land 24 miles wide on each side of the CPR railway rights. This created a checkerboard pattern, still widely used in the industry today to describe the lands. Where lands were deemed unfit for settlement, CPR negotiated for other lands that were often far from railway construction. > 1883: CPR began drilling for water in hope of improving the land’s suitability for settlement. While drilling for water, Alberta’s first natural gas was discovered, Langevin No. 1. https://www.prairiesky.com/history/ https://www.prairiesky.com/history/

> Rail is paid for by the rail traffic. I am very skeptical of this. If this is true, it makes rail the only transit mode not subsidized by the government. Do you have a source for this?

xyzzyz 5y ago

In US, passenger rail is subsidized, but freight rail is not. Freight rail in the US is a healthy industry, with steady revenues and profits.

TylerE 5y ago
The original construction of the rail lines in the 19th century was heavily subsidized (free land, etc).
- bobthepanda 5y ago
  But ongoing maintenance is not, and the same does not hold for highway maintenance. In fact, railroads pay property taxes in some states, so they actually bear even more cost than competing modes of transportation.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  The rail lines were obliged to in return carry the mail for free. That turned out to be a darned good deal for the government.

Scoundreller 5y ago

Depends how far back you wanna go. In Canada, in exchange for building, the railways got free land in every downtown and port, and along their lines. Along with 100% royalty-free surface and mineral rights. > 1881: Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR) began construction of the railway from Winnipeg to B.C. In exchange for building the railroad, CPR was granted 25 million acres of land. These lands included the petroleum and natural gas rights. > 1882: CPR was able to select lands from the odd numbered sections in a belt of land 24 miles wide on each side of the CPR railway rights. This created a checkerboard pattern, still widely used in the industry today to describe the lands. Where lands were deemed unfit for settlement, CPR negotiated for other lands that were often far from railway construction. > 1883: CPR began drilling for water in hope of improving the land’s suitability for settlement. While drilling for water, Alberta’s first natural gas was discovered, Langevin No. 1. https://www.prairiesky.com/history/ https://www.prairiesky.com/history/