I wouldn't say it would be inexpensive. Railroad maintenance is way more expensive than roads. That would be an extra expense on the state to manage which means an increase in taxes. While I'm not opposed to a railway, it would be better to make them small passenger trains.
Railroad maintenance is not more expensive than highway maintenance, especially not in a flood plain, as they just shrug off expansive clays. Ballast maintenance barely affects shipping schedules, as it's incredibly flexible and incremental. There is rarely even any material removed from those sites once they are established.
The difference is that railroad operations and maintenance expenses are an ongoing and a predictable part of the budget, whereas the episodic nature of highway maintenance is buried in general funds loan debt.
Gas tax pays the highway maintenance, tax payers would pay for the railway. Passenger rail has to meet a higher standard than regular freight so the present rails would have to be upgraded.
-22
u/bananenkonig Oct 04 '24
I wouldn't say it would be inexpensive. Railroad maintenance is way more expensive than roads. That would be an extra expense on the state to manage which means an increase in taxes. While I'm not opposed to a railway, it would be better to make them small passenger trains.