This is unbelievably stupid. Rural railway lines are often on narrow formations that could at most be a single-track lane (of which I am told there are many in the countryside). Or you widen it with all the land taking etc needed, in which case why not build a new road. twitter.com/RichardWelling…
And the point about railways, like roads, is that they are a NETWORK. No individual part is unprofitable or profitable on its own – particularly if you are looking at societal value rather than ignoring externalities.
I will pay more than a nanosecond’s attention to this sort of rubbish when I see a self-described libertarian saying that “unprofitable” B-roads in Cumbria should be torn up.
Originally posted as a thread of 3 tweets on Twitter on 2 December 2020. View the original thread.