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Originally Posted by crocos
But seriously, the biggest problems with our current rail network is 1) It's hellava twisty (decreasing speed, increasing derailments) and it's narrow track (decreasing cornering arcs, but also decreasing max speed and load-capability).
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I guess alot of that twisty stuff is due to the nature of the country. Although there are some parts that should be pretty easy, Canterbury plains for example.
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Originally Posted by crocos
Unfortunately it's actually cheaper to completely redo the inter-town roading infrastructure then it is to turn our rail system into something that can realistically handle high capacity usage, plus unless we establish a series of "hand-off points" between the new and old rail-systems, it's a "one-and-done" investment that scares off private investors (who don't look to multibillion investments with pay-back a couple of decades away), and scares our commitment-phobic political structure.
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Inter-town roading upgrade is just another sticking plaster, and wont really help anything in the long term.
Also, is it strictly necessary at this stage to upgrade the existing rail system to that degree, or can it be utilised in its current form (or with slight upgrade) to ease some of the load that is currently on trucks and the road? Then move people over slowly when they realise how good it is?