[KC_Lion]

I don't want to hate on Trains too much, I loved them as a kid I always thought they were neat and very nostalgic.

Modern Freight Trains also remains a very economical solution to moving very large volumes of goods.

However "light rail" or whatever the hell they keep pushing on us is nothing but a government slush fund program.

If the Free Market Demands them, they will be built.

Otherwise, we will always have our train sets.

[newnhdad]

it would be like China’s ghost cities.. you know, the ones Obama, Biden and the democrats are all envious of and want to replicate here.

[Olog-hai]

Too much of the transportation sector is in the hands of the government now. Allowing streetcars or “light rail”, never mind any kind of passenger rail (despite the latter’s role in building the country) to be built in any kind of economic or frugal fashion just can’t be done, mainly because the government owns all the infrastructure (not in the case of private freight-hauling railroads) but also because of the infinite pages of government regulations that get in the way (most definitely in the case of private railroads).

This is why you don’t even see private companies running city buses anymore—they are all state or city agencies.

We don’t have fast freight on the rails anymore due to government regulations, either; there used to be freight trains running at 90 mph, but that got regulated out of existence.

See a pattern?