Should our priority in road construction be rail or highway?

Recently, the lady at the daçada said that the suburban train station is actually not far from here. 

I think a neighbor told her. There was a pathway through the forest and it took 20-25 minutes to walk to the suburban train station nearby.

I said let's go exploring.

There really was a path through the forest. A dirt path.

I told my wife that you can't go this way in the rain, it would get muddy.

She said that they said there was actually another path made of concrete slabs a little further away.

Instead of looking for it, we followed this dirt path we found.

Indeed, after a while we came across a path made of concrete slabs that was wide enough for only one person to walk on. The dirt path also led to the concrete path.

Following that path, we easily found the suburban station.

It was a good trip for us, in the forest, fresh air, plenty of food.

***

In the early times, human beings used to walk everywhere.

In some novels (especially classics) the protagonists talk about walking for days. I remember from The Grapes of Wrath, for example, that they walked for such a long time.

In other words, the history of giving up walking for human beings is actually not that old.

Even today, there are people who walk from mountain to mountain for sport, they have strange names for it, but for me it's either sightseeing or exploration or just walking, nothing more.

I love walking in nature too.

Of course, if you are in a hurry, you can run, or if something is chasing you, you have to grease the soles.

In Africa, messengers preferred to run in advance to deliver news from one place to another.

Maybe that's why African athletes are more successful in athletics. Anatomically, their body structure may be more favorable to running, or at least more accustomed to it.

***

I don't know which came first, the wheel or the horse, but when man got tired of walking, he started to travel on horseback. 

The horse has been very important for us Turks throughout history. Today, however, horse breeding is nothing more than a hobby for a few rich people.

Mankind later discovered the car and built horse-drawn carriages behind the horses.

He started to carry the loads that he could no longer carry with horse-drawn carts.

Look, the first roads were probably created spontaneously.

The path we found in the forest had been walked on in summer and winter, it was immediately obvious.

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In fact, in some cultures (including our own) people have used cattle instead of horses. 

The ox cart is a vehicle you can only see in museums today.

However, how much we used it in our war of liberation, right?

Peasant women carried heavy artillery shells to the front with those oxcarts!

*

In the north, where it snows all the time, the wheel is replaced by a sleigh and horses are replaced by deer. 

Even Santa Claus delivers his presents on a sleigh pulled by reindeer!

You know that even further north, dogs also pull the sleds.

I remember watching one or two such movies.

I even met someone in Norilsk who kept such dogs, and in the winters he traveled with them to the neighboring cities. 

He had these blue-eyed husky dogs, the famous dogs of the north.

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In very hot places, camels naturally replaced horses.

Camel caravans of Arabia. 

Even without a wheeled cart pulling behind them, you can only cross the deserts with camels. 

Moreover, camels can carry enough cargo.

In Asia, there are still places where elephants are still used, once elephants were also used for transportation.

Although there are fewer places where elephants are used now, I think they are only used for touristic purposes, for sightseeing.

***

Throughout history, mankind has also found different modes of transportation. 

The boats, dinghies, larger ones, galleys, galleons, sailing ships, steamships, now freighters, passenger ships, tankers...

Then, even though he could not learn to fly himself, he learned to fly, airplanes, helicopters, airships...

Ski lifts in ski resorts...

As far as I know, in some mountainous places, there are suspended cabins even between two hills.

Even in Istanbul, our historic tunnel metro is a cable system.

If I remember correctly, they recently inaugurated a new funicular line in Istanbul.

***

Isn't "funicular" a strange term?

Why don't you call it a "cable line"?

To climb a hilly place, you attach a group of wagons to the two ends of a cable, and by balancing the weight, so that less energy is spent, you can travel up and down with the wagons.

This is called a "funicular line". 

In Turkish, "cable metro line".

Although both "cable", "metro" and even "hat" are foreign words!

In other words, it makes no sense to get hung up on the fact that the word "funicular" is a foreign word.

Still, "cable subway line" seems to be more understandable.

***

In old American movies, workers are hard at work, laying a railroad! You must have seen it too.

Yes, as soon as mankind started using steam trains, they started laying railroads!

Railways became a sign of civilization.

With trains, very heavy loads could now be transported over very long distances.

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Whereas in cowboy movies, there are dusty roads in the towns and horse-drawn carriages are used to travel to distant places through flat lands, through grassy areas that are not even known to have roads.

Of course, horses are still the indispensable means of transportation for cowboys. A cowboy is on horseback throughout his life, regardless of the mountains and streams.

Anyway, in the wild west, lives were quite short back then.

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In old British movies, horse-drawn carriages are replaced by self-driving cars that go pitter-patter pitter-patter.

Yes, mankind has now discovered motorized vehicles. 

The industrial revolution!

But there are also steam trains in the movies.

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On the one hand, there are motorized cars that can go wherever you want on their own, and on the other hand, there are trains that can run on iron rails, which are much heavier and bigger, but can carry more cargo.

Yes, man also built trucks and lorries to carry heavy loads. 

They have also built wide highways, highways, highways, but trains are still the primary means of freight transportation today with their very large load carrying capacity.

Not only for freight, of course, but also for passengers, trains are still the most logical means of transportation today.

With the development of technology, we can now build very fast trains.

By the way, I should also remind you that for long distances, sea transportation is still the most economical method of freight transportation today!

However, after the seaside ports, trains have to take over! Or trucks and lorries are alternative means of freight transportation by road.

***

So let's say there is no transportation between two places at a distance and we need to build a road.

We need to build a transportation road, which do you think would be more logical? 

Should we build a railway or a highway?

In the early years of the Republic, the preference was for railways, but in the following years, the preference was for highways.

I wonder why?

Wasn't the railway a sign of civilization?

You cannot build railroads everywhere! 

There is a certain slope requirement!

Our country is a very mountainous country!

To build a railroad you have to build big bridges, long tunnels, big cuts or fill in a lot of places! 

It would be very expensive!

***

Do you think the highways we are building today do not fulfill these needs?

In highways, you want to be able to go quite fast, and for that you need a certain comfort condition, so highways also have certain slope conditions. 

Depending on the route, we need to build bridges, viaducts and tunnels. 

Motorways are also very expensive investments!

In many places, you also have to do cut and fill, don't you think this is costly enough for a wide highway?

Moreover, for the railroad, it is enough to build one going and one coming line, you can do the railroad by laying only two lines of track, whereas highways have to be built in a very wide way, at least three lanes going and three lanes coming. The art structures of highways, from bridges to tunnels, are at least three times more costly than railways because they have three lanes.

OK, less art structures are needed depending on the slope conditions, but highways are still more costly investments than railways.

In addition, maintenance costs are also quite high for highways.

If you do a financial analysis of both, you will see that railways are much more economical investments, especially for long distances.

***

So why did our politicians prioritize highways?

The oil lobby! The automobile lobby! 

I'm not kidding, these are really the giant companies that have been driving this issue in the world for the last century!

Besides, the comfort of private vehicles has also become a very important factor.

You get in in front of your house and get out in front of your door at your destination!

How comfortable is that?

Although there is a risk of having an accident, and the traffic problem is a big problem when everyone is on the road at the same time, but after all, comfort is comfort, and human beings have done a lot for their comfort. 

The fondness for private cars is also an important factor in the preference for highways.

***

So let's find a middle ground. 

Let's go by road in the inner cities or in the periphery of the cities, i.e. to close places, and let's use railways for intercity transportation!

Of course, public transportation is actually a much more convenient way of transportation in the city, especially the metro, which is a very fast means of transportation.

In other words, I prefer public transportation, but let's assume that we will use the already existing highways in the inner cities.

For intercity travel, let's build stations in the inner cities and use trains to get from one city to another.

Very long distances can also be traveled by airplanes, but for this, as I have already written, a transportation plan should be made with small airplanes and smaller airports.

In any case, taking into account freight transportation, railways should be a mandatory investment for intercity transportation.

This would also save us the expense of building highways that are so wide for long distances.

What do you think?

Isn't it possible?

***

Well, for me, if the people agreed with me, would they have chosen today's or yesterday's governments? They would probably prefer a more socialist government.

As we say right-wing politics, creating a consumer society is the general perspective of right-wing politicians.

Building highways seems to suit them better in terms of construction economics.

Perhaps they may have really become the playthings of the oil or automobile lobbies.

Whatever the reason, the preference of the governments that have come to power so far has been in favor of highways.

However, Atatürk had said that we had woven the country with iron nets from one end to the other!

It seems that those who came after him did not follow his advice.

If only they had listened to him!

***

There are deeper analyses such as whether you should have your own wagon factory or foreign investment, but the article has gone on long enough. Let's leave this part for another day.

In my humble opinion, of course what has happened so far has happened, but I think it is still not too late.

I think we should give more importance to railways.

***

I live in a city with nine (9) train stations. 

Moreover, with its suburban trains and subway lines, this is a city with a world-class infrastructure.

Believe me, transportation is very easy and cheap here with this infrastructure.

Why can't we do something similar in Turkey, right?

As long as we want to, I think we can!

But when can we do it?

As long as the people in power have this love for highways and the understanding of a consumer society, I don't know.

Since the nation still elects this government, I probably won't even see such a transportation network in Turkey. 

What can I say, the fallen do not cry!

Look, some people wanted to go in front of TÜİK again two days ago, they wanted to make a press statement asking for a proper inflation rate.

Believe me, I did not follow who wants what, who objects to what, I think it is wasted breath. 

As I wrote last time, these days, no matter who does what, it all sounds like a lullaby to me, it makes me sleepy. 

Societies are governed the way they deserve to be governed. If you elect these rulers, you will have to put up with their hikes!

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.