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indi wrote

There are other costs that rail has that air doesn't, such as the environmental impact of running rail through long stretches of green space (something inevitable in Canada, for example).

But I generally think you're correct. For overland transport, yes, rail is probably the best way to go.

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edmund_the_destroyer wrote

As far as running rail through green space, I think that brings up discussions of making infrastructure as environmentally friendly as is practical vs advocating primitivism or something along those lines.

Maybe if I had a more abstract perspective on the situation I would advocate the latter view. But I have an enormous extended family that I love dearly, and I can't see any policy that calls for mass dismantling of infrastructure objectively. I imagine it would require the death of huge portions of the population - which may well happen anyway with what humanity is doing, but I can't bring myself to advocate fixing the problem by proactive mass murder.

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