Railing against roads

• Rail, as a medium of transport, is often much more energy-efficient and less polluting per tonne- or passenger-km than automobiles.

• It can almost always expand its capacity with little further pre-emption of space. Two sets of rail tracks can carry the same number of people as 16 lanes of highway, taking only 15 metres (m) of right-of-way as compared with 122 m for the equivalent highway. Improved train control technologies can triple track capacities. Unlike highways, which need median strips, shoulders and buffers, new tracks can usually be fitted into existing rights-of-way.

• Expanding rail networks can make expensive new airports unnecessary.

• It has the potential to unify cities due to the central location of rail stations, rather than damaging them as suburban malls and highways do.

• Transport is much safer by rail.