Petrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂExtraordinary that there's virtually no coverage in western media of China's extraordinary expansion of its railway network, and no questions about why we can't or don't do the same
#Railway #China #Europe #US
#Railway #China #Europe #US
Karl Stanley@sinabhfuil I’m not trying to be smart here, I am saying this based on my experience working as a city councillor. The problem is democracy (or at least our version of it). It’s far far easier to implement radical change when you a) don’t have to consult with groups who will be negatively affected by the change and b) don’t have to worry about getting re-elected.
Kevin Teljeur ❄️@karlstanley @sinabhfuil It’s worth noting that Ireland’s formerly extensive railway network was built when Ireland was… in the Empire. So consultation when building the network wasn’t much of an issue.
Leszek Ciesielski@kevinteljeur @karlstanley @sinabhfuil Except the routes were forced by the local English lords. Quite often built not where it made sense, but where it was esthetically pleasing to them. Check e.g. the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, having a legitimate claim to be the oldest passenger route in the world. A lot of it is built within the sea cliff so that that it wouldn't spoil Lord Cloncurry's view.
@skolima @karlstanley @sinabhfuil That line is a very interesting and good example. I grew up next to it. We take that line for granted now but it erased a long stretch of coastline across South Dublin and ploughed through a lot more - could you do that now?
@sinabhfuil @skolima @karlstanley But when they built it, wealth and power were concentrated on the North-central side of the city, if I’m not mistaken.
@kevinteljeur @skolima @karlstanley Yes, nobody bothered about those southside peasants then. It was only when "healthy air" became the fashion that the rich started building on the hillsides of the southside - Mount Tallant, Mount Drummond, Mount Jerome, etc. And in those days the stormy sea was a thing of horror. It was only in the Romantic Age that the sea became a romantic view and the rich built along the coast
@sinabhfuil @skolima @karlstanley Aside: Railways then were symbolic of Imperialist Capitalism - the arteries of capital, and not as an enabling social good. So tearing through a neighbourhood was only for the good of the few. I wonder if that coloured the view of the early Irish State in how it saw railways.
Also: I grew up in a small flat in one of the biggest terraced old houses in Monkstown/Seapoint overlooking the railway and coast.
@sinabhfuil @skolima @karlstanley Ouch! The ‘housekeeper’ used to refer to tenements if there was ever any trouble or mess. I didn’t get it then but later on I understood better (it wasn’t a tenement, but a blood relative of them, let’s say)