Rail lives in that weird category like rural mail or power service (or, for that matter, highways) – you need to provide it if you want your country to be a civilized place, but it’s real real hard to make it available at a reasonable price and still turn a profit.
Railway doesn’t have to be profitable under government funding. The railway is a way to establish profitable businesses surrounding the railway. The profit comes from taxes paid by everyone getting work because of the railway.
Rail lives in that weird category like rural mail or power service (or, for that matter, highways) – you need to provide it if you want your country to be a civilized place, but it’s real real hard to make it available at a reasonable price and still turn a profit.
Turns out the answer was government, all along…
You didn’t pave these roads!
Railway doesn’t have to be profitable under government funding. The railway is a way to establish profitable businesses surrounding the railway. The profit comes from taxes paid by everyone getting work because of the railway.
That was exactly my point, yes