re: #203 ralphieboy

Part of the problem is the limited routing through Switzerland and the Alps in general. That’s going to be dealt with the new Gothard Base tunnel project that opens in a couple of years, that should cut freight travel time significantly from north to south, but freight traffic is a huge concern and can’t be dealt with any easier than US HSR efforts - it would take huge financial investments.

Europe devotes significantly more to the passenger rail, but it’s at the expense of a freight system that takes trucks off the roads.

Also, it’s interesting that while China is busy touting its HSR efforts and their claims that they’re going to spend $450 billion or more on HSR in the coming decade, they’re getting accustomed to having massive truck traffic jams on highways in parts of the country because there is no freight rail system to handle the traffic.