• rtxn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A massive high speed railway network across North America, coast to coast. Russia did it, China did it, most of Europe did it. Canada and the USA have no excuse.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Canada’s excuse is “we’re roughly as big as the US but have a way smaller population and GDP. I really don’t think it’d be financially justifiable for them to build a rail equivalent to the trans-Canadian highway. It’d be a non-starter in a political sense.

      The US, on the other hand… yeah. We genuinely have no excuse.

    • count_dongulus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Property acquisition costs and legal fees are immensely more expensive in the US. Have to obtain those thousands of miles of land for rail development from somebody.

      • troutsushi@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Property acquisition in the US more expensive than in Europe? I think not, at least for the immense swaths of land that make up most of the US’ land mass.

        The legal fees I see, but that’s why most developed nations have legislature for disowning property owners of land necessary for infrastructure at a set compensation. Whether that’s fair or just is up for ideological debate, I’m sure.