2006-11-01 01:31:38 · 7 answers · asked by Eric Inri 6 in Social Science ➔ Economics
Because there is nothing to transport over them. Some railroads were build to supply specific mining or forestry projects, some of which turned out to be unprofitable and were abandoned along with the supply railroads. Others simply could not compete with trucking. Passenger railroads face double competition from bus companies with their broader reach and airlines with their speed.
2006-11-01 05:00:03 · answer #1 · answered by NC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Number one is too many were built to start with. The government gave land on either side of tracks to railroads as incentive to get railroads built. That's why there was such a race to get them built it was a land grab.
Then the government gave big subsidies to railroad companies to keep the lines open. Over time those subsidies have been phased out and lines have been shut down.
Rail is still a good way to transport goods, but the governments going to have to get out of the way.
2006-11-01 13:43:27 · answer #2 · answered by Roadkill 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Railroads are mostly used for interstate transporting of products and not people like it used to be. At one time, railroads were the preferred travel vice. Now that airlines offer competitive pricing and faster delivery, nobody rides the train. It is a big task to completely remove traces of a railroad after its use is discontinued.
2006-11-01 09:37:03 · answer #3 · answered by Tammy D 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Railroads are abundoned as their operation becomes uneconomical due to rail road competition. But some railroads are to be kept open even if their is no rail traffic due to their stretagic importance. In USA certain rail roads are uneconomical as their operational expenditure is more than their income. Therefore the USA Government decided to abondon some of the unimportant rail roads in usa.
2006-11-01 09:56:29 · answer #4 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Educated guess says that there isn't as much demand for railroad lines as there used to be. Businesses such as FedEx and UPS are more flexible for cross country delivery than trains are. I would think that air travel is a lot more flexible as well.
2006-11-01 09:46:14 · answer #5 · answered by tramps3 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think it's because there are so many other methods of transporting goods these days that are easier than trains such as the new pods.
2006-11-01 10:29:26 · answer #6 · answered by tinaluvsglass 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Trails of mass consumption.
2006-11-01 10:07:45 · answer #7 · answered by EARTHLING99 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋