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project between Venezuela and Colombia. I don't know the route. I read about it (and other joint projects) because of their friendly meeting, recently, which they described as "burying the hatchet." Long story, but the upshot is a new railroad.
It would be interesting to know more about this, from the political perspective. Is the left more friendly to railroads?
Of the countries mentioned in VogonGlory comment, above, that are losing their railroads, most of them have been countries with rightwing/Corpo regimes that have plundered their countries' resources, and neglected infrastructure and local manufacturing, with the socially irresponsible rich absconding with World Bank funds and leaving the poor to pay the debt, and selling the countries resources and untilties off to multinationals, and taking no care to develop a future for the vast poor populations--with neglect of education, medical care, land reform and other bootstrapping necessities as well.
Top of the list is Mexico. The rightwing/Corpo government is currently trying to privatize the country's constitutionally protected oil resource (to much resistance - could bring the left to power the next election). Colombia has the worst rightwing government of all. (Presumably the railroad was the Chavez government's idea.) Ecuador--rightwing government until recently; the country now has a leftist president with an 80% approval rating. Honduras--the toilet that John Negroponte's death squads crapped in on their way to kill leftists in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 80's, and which has miserable poverty--recently shifted left, and joined the Bolivarian trade group, ALBA. Nicaragua--a basketcase of "free trade," and multinationl ripoffs, all under U.S.-chosen, rightwing governments, until recently--now it has Sandinista Daniel Ortega as president, and also joined ALBA. El Salvador, yet another rightwing mess, may also get a leftist government soon (next year).
And of the countries fostering railroads, or where railroads are surviving, four out of the five have leftist governments, three of them for quite some time (Venezuela, Brazil and Chile, and more recently gone leftist, Bolivia), and if Alan Garcia (corrupt "free tradist," privatizer) gets the boot in the next election, in favor of a leftist, Peru's railroads will likely have a better chance of surviving. Then there's Argentina--whose economy was destroyed by rightwingers and the World Bank, until leftist Venezuela came to the rescue with easy term loans, and the leftist Kirchners started getting elected--joining with Chile to preserve and extend a railroad.
There DOES seem to be a correlation, doesn't there?
Railroads are a great PEOPLE thing, besides being a vastly more human, and less environmentally damaging, way to haul cargo. It's just plain PLEASANT and RELAXING to take a train--and sit back and read, talk, share food; more community oriented, much more friendly and fun, than the stress and isolation of driving cars or trucks, where, with the slightest mistake by you or other drivers, and you could all be dead. Trains are infinitely less stressful and much safer. You can just sit back and watch the scenery go by without a worry in the world. Railroads CONNECT communities in a markedly different and better way than highways and especially freeways, which chop communities up, foster unsustainable and alientated living, and create urban and rural blight. A train meandering through a rural scene seems to be belong there, whereas a big highway or freeway destroys the view and the feel of the place, and dominates everything.
Old people who can't drive any more can go anywhere, if there is a train. Kids are much happier on trains. There is a romance to trains--something cars don't have any more, because there are too many of them, causing traffic jambs and pollution. And I would guess that trains are by far the cheapest way to transport goods, and that the oil Corpos are why they are not being used. That certainly was the case in Los Angeles, which ripped out its Red Car system--one of the saddest and worst decisions any city ever made--and it was the oil and rubber Corpos who were behind that awful mistake.
So maybe there is a special affinity between railroads and leftists. Leftist governments favor PEOPLE, too, and promote humane and progressive values. Am I onto something?
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