No, not really, and pace the "we will all want to sit in single pod cars, talking to no-one" approach, I do think rail as we know it is over. Welcome to the car-train.
The subsidies for rail travel are vast, and when there really is a viable alternative an order of magnitude cheaper, the rail industry will go the same way as the dockers did after 1957 (first use of container freight)
That will be a horrible wrench across the world, and will need to be managed well - preferably starting now.
On the plus side, there will be quite a lot of suddenly cheap land for sale throughout western cities - that will play havoc with house prices in 2030.
The subsidies for rail travel are vast, and when there really is a viable alternative an order of magnitude cheaper, the rail industry will go the same way as the dockers did after 1957 (first use of container freight)
That will be a horrible wrench across the world, and will need to be managed well - preferably starting now.
On the plus side, there will be quite a lot of suddenly cheap land for sale throughout western cities - that will play havoc with house prices in 2030.