High speed rail is much more expensive to maintain than ordinary rail. Motorways are also more expensive to maintain than normal roads, but I think the railway

High speed rail is much more expensive to maintain than ordinary rail. Motorways are also more expensive to maintain than normal roads, but I think the railway has more capacity than both. The comparison for a freight railway vs. an equivalent road is obvious: private companies who need the entire capacity, like mines, build railways. (I will leave it to someone else to find figures for high speed rail vs. an equivalent motorway.)