Passenger Rail Doesn’t Work in Europe

For all your friends who come home from a trip to Europe raving about the trains, an op-ed on Real Clear Policy explains why An intercourse with your wife may become difficult due to thinning of the article that takes blood sildenafil overnight to the penis. Nevertheless, men are lucky to have so many medicines these days for the issue of erectile dysfunction that can’t even be treated with ED medication! alcohol – a glass or two reduces stress and inhibition which in turn stimulates sexual feelings, but more than that actually kills sexual performance in both men and women. canadian cheap viagra Thankfully there purchasing viagra online is one cheap option for getting the right medication. Be that as it may, choosing an option is strictly the prerogative of the user and perhaps the best known of these is sildenafil citrate (http://cute-n-tiny.com/category/cute-animals/page/28/ viagra without prescriptions uk) This article will examine the strategies used by Pfizer, the maker of cialis, to ensure that all manufacturers create meds with the same high standards and quality compliance as Pfizer does. href=”https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2018/11/01/why_passenger_trains_dont_work_in_europe_110889.html”>passenger rail doesn’t work in Europe all that much better than in the United States. (I meant to post this earlier today but forgot.)

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

14 Responses to Passenger Rail Doesn’t Work in Europe

  1. prk166 says:


    The same EU report says that 46 percent of European freight goes by truck while only 11 percent goes by rail, while in the United States more than 40 percent goes by rail while just 30 percent goes on the highway.

    Europe’s 11% is even worth with half of all freight moved by train occurring in just 2 countries, Germany and Poland.

    Passenger trains and freight trains mixing creates huge operational issues that largely can not be overcome. One has to give. They’ve sacrificed cheaply moving large volumes / weights of freight in favor of expensively moving small numbers of people.

  2. the highwayman says:

    Lack of infrastructure. Teahadi’s. Lack of open access to multiple operators. SJW’s. Hostile government policy towards rail as a mode. NIMBYs. Expecting railroads to be some how magically profitable, when roads don’t have to be, etc :$

  3. LazyReader says:

    Awww, somebody didn’t give polly his cracker this morning.

  4. prk166 says:

    American railroads are taking in record profits.

  5. the highwayman says:

    Asset stripping Wall Street crooks and hostile policy. Oh, joy, oh joy, oh joy……. :$

  6. msetty says:

    I have already pointed out directly to The Antiplanner why his conclusions about the role of rail in Europe is a load of b.s. Like trips are shorter, partly because intercity distances are shorter because Europe is really one big mega-region compared to the wide open spaces of the U.S.,, and urban trips are shorter. In Europe, transit and rail, walking and bicycling all have much larger mode splits than in the U.S.

    This is also true of Canada and Australia, with much per capita higher transit use than the U.S. and significantly lower annual per person auto mileage, despite an order of magnitude more empty wide open spaces per capita than the U.S. Explain this, Randal–gasoline prices are somewhat higher in Canada and Australia than the U.S., but not more than double like in Europe.

    Also, Europe has much higher GDP and per capita income per passenger mile by motor vehicle than the U.S. This indicates that beyond a certain point, added auto travel is mostly consumption and has diminishing returns.

    But, for The Antiplanner and the Cato Institute, my points do not fit the narrative so they ignore the facts.

  7. msetty says:

    Linked transit ridership in Calgary and Edmonton–in the oil-producing hearlland of Canada, Alberta–is more than double the U.S. average for the 50% of people who actually have direct access to transit in the U.S. This is also the case in Ottawa, somewhat less in Winnipeg. Metro Toronto served by the TTC has nearly 300 linked trips per capita, with Montreal a close second. Explain these European levels of transit usage, The Antiplanner. Canadian [and Australian] cities are much more similar to U.S. cities than European cities.

  8. the highwayman says:

    Canada still has a lot of problems too, there are no longer any railways through the city centres Edmonton, Victoria and Ottawa. Prince Edward Island & Newfoundland had their railways stolen in the 1980’s. Montreal is destroying an electric railway for a mini-metro.

    Though, yes, like with the USA, our governments bias still favours automobiles and trucks :$

  9. CapitalistRoader says:

    Also, Europe has much higher GDP and per capita income per passenger mile by motor vehicle than the U.S. This indicates that beyond a certain point, added auto travel is mostly consumption and has diminishing returns.

    Please explain this sentence. The EU’s aggregate GDP is about 10% smaller than the US’s and over $20K less than the US’s on a per capita basis. GDP aside, are you saying that EU’s car drivers are richer than US car drivers?

    My questions is on the up-and-up. I’m not looking for “gotcha” and I don’t want to get into a pissing contest. I just want to know how and why you make the determination that This indicates that beyond a certain point, added auto travel is mostly consumption and has diminishing returns. You may well be right but I’d like to see the source.

  10. metrosucks says:

    It’s kind of ironic that msetty and highwayman are here hand in hand, foaming at the mouth to protect the toy trains, that this news came out of Seattle today:

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/how-popular-are-uber-and-lyft-in-seattle-ridership-numbers-kept-secret-until-recently-give-us-a-clue/

    Lyft and Uber carry MORE riders per day than the precious Sound Transit toy train network, and surprise, Lyft and Uber DON’T cost half a billion per mile.

    Also, I wonder if msetty has even been to Europe? I visited the UK and France last summer. Surprise! Both countries have extensive freeway and road networks that most people use. Same as here. The trains are OK (we used the subways a few times in both London and Europe), but Uber was more convenient overall despite the higher cost. Unless the train stop was two or three blocks from our destination, we usually just took Uber instead. Mr. O’Toole is completely right. These rail systems are utter anachronisms and anyone who can’t see it has their nose firmly up Siemen’s or some other rail contractor’s behind.

  11. the highwayman says:

    Randal O’Toole is a fraud.

    Your argument is political, not economic :$

  12. prk166 says:

    https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2018/11/01/why_passenger_trains_dont_work_in_europe_110889.html

    Third, subsidies to European trains, especially the infrastructure-heavy high-speed rail lines, have left many countries deeply in debt. Those debts are large enough to undermine the entire economies of some countries, just as the massive — $350 billion in today’s dollars — Japanese National Railways debt in the late 1980s contributed to Japan’s decades of economic doldrums since then.

  13. prk166 says:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-22441169

    Professor Sanz-Magallon says that the rail link has contributed little to the southern Spanish economy

  14. the highwayman says:

    The UK has had over 10,000 miles of rail line stolen.

    Government policy is anti-rail, roads are not expected to be profitable to survive! :$

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