Though the rail system was extremely slow at first and prohibitively expensive to build and run, the British were not to be dissuaded in their pursuit of non-animal driven transportation.
The most advanced mode of transportation prior to the introduction of the rail system was the horse drawn omnibus on a track, called a tram.
Some rails were still made of wood, others iron and the first trains traveled at the pace of 3.5 miles per hour, significantly slower than the horse drawn coach which traveled at a speed of 9-10 miles per hour.
But for rail, mile after mile of track, bridges, switching stations, and trusses must be protected from low-cost explosives.
The fact that passenger rail competes so poorly with its less subsidized land rivals is a dead giveaway: This technology is horrendously expensive, requiring high and ongoing operating subsidies.
Cox points out that urban rail projects, the precursors of high-speed rail, cost an average 46 percent more to build and 78 percent more to operate than their planning-stage projections.
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