3 ms·

Build more trains, and then make smaller trucks that are locally bound.

eru 4y ago
That's already what's happening. The US has some of the best railways in the world. It's just that for various institutional reasons the Americans suck at passenger rail, so people totally ignore that their freight rail works really, really well. Guess which part of the industry is in government hands, and which part is privatised and deregulated?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Macha 4y ago
  Of course, this ignores that the tracks are mostly privately owned and the private operators prioritize their own freight traffic over the passenger traffic despite the latter being less time sensitive. The one part where the passenger rail does work well is where the government passenger rail company also owns the network...
  - eru 4y ago
    Well, the whole system (or systems) used to be various private hands when they were first built. The government takeover came later.
    - Macha 4y ago
      And it was taken over by the government because those private companies were going bankrupt, so it's still not a good promotion for the private market
      - eru 4y ago
        https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/SurfaceFreightTransportationDeregulation.html https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/SurfaceFreightTransporta... and https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-government-takes-over-control-of-nations-railroads https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-government-t... suggest there's more to the story: > The U.S. entry into the war in April 1917 coincided with a downturn in the fortunes of the nation’s railroads: rising taxes and operations costs, combined with prices that were fixed by law, had pushed many railroad companies into receivership as early as late 1915. A year later, in a last-minute bill passed through Congress, Wilson had forced the railroad management to accept union demands for an eight-hour work day. Government fixed prices, and made one of their factors of production (labour) more expensive.

eru 4y ago

That's already what's happening. The US has some of the best railways in the world. It's just that for various institutional reasons the Americans suck at passenger rail, so people totally ignore that their freight rail works really, really well. Guess which part of the industry is in government hands, and which part is privatised and deregulated?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Macha 4y ago
Of course, this ignores that the tracks are mostly privately owned and the private operators prioritize their own freight traffic over the passenger traffic despite the latter being less time sensitive. The one part where the passenger rail does work well is where the government passenger rail company also owns the network...
- eru 4y ago
  Well, the whole system (or systems) used to be various private hands when they were first built. The government takeover came later.
  - Macha 4y ago
    And it was taken over by the government because those private companies were going bankrupt, so it's still not a good promotion for the private market
    - eru 4y ago
      https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/SurfaceFreightTransportationDeregulation.html https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/SurfaceFreightTransporta... and https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-government-takes-over-control-of-nations-railroads https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-government-t... suggest there's more to the story: > The U.S. entry into the war in April 1917 coincided with a downturn in the fortunes of the nation’s railroads: rising taxes and operations costs, combined with prices that were fixed by law, had pushed many railroad companies into receivership as early as late 1915. A year later, in a last-minute bill passed through Congress, Wilson had forced the railroad management to accept union demands for an eight-hour work day. Government fixed prices, and made one of their factors of production (labour) more expensive.