Why can't America build trains? - by Noah Smith

A guest post by Eric Goldwyn.

Modern America’s economic problems often stem from excess costs — health care costs, housing construction costs, child care costs, and so on. And one of the most glaring things that America can’t seem to build efficiently is passenger rail. Cheap, efficient, convenient train systems are the pride of countries like Japan, France, Switzerland and South Korea. But for some reason, America can’t seem to build anything like these systems. And when we actually do try to build trains, it ends up costing ridiculous amounts per mile — more than 20 times as much in NYC as in Seoul. A few intrepid…

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