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.
Jernej Virag 
@karlstanley so how do you explain Switzerland?
@jernej i don’t know a whole lot about Switzerland - have they managed to square the circle of democratic consultation vs rapid rollout of new infrastructure? I’d be interested in finding out how they pulled that off, we haven’t a clue how to do it in Ireland.
@karlstanley So Switzerland has one of the best public transport systems in the world (it's rail system is probably the best, outside maybe Japan). It's also been built on a terrain that anyone would consider challenging.
On top of that, their rather unique political system offloads a lot of decision making into direct referendums (both on county, cantonal and federation level).
And yet... they still somehow managed.
@karlstanley I don't have an explanation either - after living here for awhile my theory is "These people are just strange and somehow want public transport to work.", but it's a pretty poor explanation ^^