World we Dare Imagine

 From the dawn of time, civilisation has thrived near waterways, Paris, Rome and the vast majority of the world’s most prosperous cities are built around waterways. Originally these were mainly rivers but with globalisation, direct access to the ocean is now the most important requirement. However, many of the poorest communities in the world do not have access to the ocean, the sea, or even rivers that could lead there. This leaves their regions dramatically underdeveloped. 

Education is extremely important when dealing with inequalities, but if there is no opportunity for this education to be used, then it serves no purpose at all. Waterways are the cheapest mode of transportation in the world, but cannot be used by everyone. So we must turn to another technology, one that could be implemented virtually everywhere: trains.

Railways are fast, cheap, ecologically friendly, can be built in most regions of the world easily, and would dynamise some of the most remote regions in the world just like oceans do now and rivers did in the past. 

As an example, let’s look at a developed country: France. France suffers from a major issue, most of its activities, political and economic alike are centered around one city: Paris. This leads to many many issues, but most importantly it means that the rest of France struggles to economically develop. However, France has over the decades developed an expansive set of railroads that stretch most of the territory. Although this was not their intention, these railroads have led to the development of small cities now known as technopolis. Essentially these are cities centered around universities or important centers of education, which lead research and development, education, manufacturing… This is very relevant because these centers develop exclusively around railroads that are connected to the main cities. 

This plan to make the world better would allow the poor rural areas of the world to connect with their rapidly growing economical centers. It would limit the overcrowdedness of metropolises by organically creating new opportunities in currently underdeveloped areas. 

Here are a few examples of how these railroads would help the countries: 

• Transportation of goods: the railroads would allow farmers and manufacturers alike to ship their productions at a much lower cost, back to the ports or economic centers of the city, allowing them to relocate their production facilities to the rural areas, transforming them into dynamic zones filled with opportunity. 

• Transportation of people: be it to commute to work or to school this would grant people the opportunity to access these services, or at the very least lose much less time in the commute. 

• Less pollution: trains pollute a lot less than all other means of transportation According to Our World in Numbers “Taking a train instead of a car for medium-length distances would cut your emissions by around 80%. Using a train instead of a domestic flight would reduce your emissions by around 86%.”. Furthermore they are notably less disturbing to the local ecosystems than roads, as they are both quieter and can be crossed by animals easier. 

• Cheaper : on average, a single km of road takes 2 million USD to build, whereas a km of train track is half of that. This means that transportation fees would be far lower and less dependable on global petroleum supplies. 

Another fundamental aspect to the success of this plan is how beneficial the actual process of building a train system is to these countries. This process is what is sometimes referred to as the leapfrog effect. Developing countries learn from developed countries allowing them to skip steps in technological development by mimicking what is done elsewhere, buying them precious time. For example, a couple years ago China had an airbus factory built on their territory so that they could explore and learn from a more advanced country. Now they are on the verge of commercializing their first airplane: C919. and this is less than 15 years after Airbus implemented themselves there. 

Railways would work in a similar way, originally, external companies would implement themselves there to build trains and the railroads themselves, allowing the developing nations to learn and eventually be able to replicate the techniques themselves, maybe ultimately even sharing with their neighbours allowing for more development. 

This initiative would be commissioned by the state and ideally be free to the people, the countries would benefit simply by learning, improving their nation and also cargo shipments through these railroads. It would also ‘break’ the country out of economic crisis very similarly to what the Tennessee Valley Authority was intended to do, by boosting the economy with massive state commissioned projects like dams, roads or in this case railroads. This means the creation of economic opportunities before the project is even operational which could help these very poor countries in sustaining these costs. 

To conclude, railways would allow countries to reconnect their underdeveloped rural populations with their economic centers, while limiting overpopulation in the cities and allowing for new economic centers to rise. This infrastructure would facilitate education and commerce, while creating many jobs in and of itself. It would allow the countries themselves to learn new technologies and to advance the rest of their industry as well. This technology in particular is far less invasive, far cheaper and also safer than roads would be all the while being the least polluting feasible means of transportation.