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Amtrak was founded in 1971. That's about a century removed from the times I'm talking about. Not particularly relevant.
by eru 1y ago
Amtrak was founded in 1971. That's about a century removed from the times I'm talking about. Not particularly relevant.
- rusk 1y agoCompletely relevant. It’s all that remains of the train tracks today. Grinding out the last drops from those sunk costs, attracting minimal investment to keep it minimally viable.
- ben_w 1y agoGrinding out returns from a sunk cost of a century-old investment is pretty impressive all by itself. Very few people want to invest more: the private sector doesn't want to because they'll never see the return, the governments don't want to because the returns are spread over their great-great-grandchildren's lives and that doesn't get them re-elected in the next n<=5 (because this isn't just a USA problem) years. Even the German government dragged its feet over rail investment, but they're finally embarrassed enough by the network problems to invest in all the things.
- rusk 1y agoThanks yes the train tracks analogy does witber somewhat when you consider the significant maintenance costs.