Advantages and disadvantages of railway transportation

From the perspective of technical performance, the advantages of railway transportation are:
(1) The running speed is fast, generally at 80 to 120 kilometers per hour;
(2) Large transportation capacity. Generally, each passenger car can carry about 1,800 passengers, a freight car can hold 2,000 to 3,500 tons of goods, and a heavy-duty train can hold more than 20,000 tons of goods; the maximum annual cargo transportation capacity of a single line is 18 million tons. , up to 55 million tons in double lines; in countries with better operation organization, the annual maximum cargo transportation capacity of single-line one-way can reach 40 million tons, and the annual maximum cargo transportation capacity of double-line one-way can exceed 100 million tons;
(3) The railway transportation process is less restricted by natural conditions and has strong continuity, which can guarantee year-round operation;
(4) It has good general performance and can transport both passengers and various kinds of goods;
(5) The accuracy of the arrival and departure time of train passenger and cargo transportation is relatively high;
(6) The train runs relatively stable, safe and reliable;
(7) The average transportation distance is 25 times that of road transportation and 1.15 times that of pipeline transportation, but less than half of water transportation and less than 1/3 of civil aviation transportation.
From the perspective of economic indicators, the advantages of railway transportation are:
(1) The cost of railway transportation is relatively low. In 1981, the cost of railway transportation in my country was 1/11 to 1/17 of the cost of automobile transportation, and 1/97 to 1/267 of the cost of civil aviation transportation;
(2) The energy consumption is relatively low. The standard fuel consumption per 1,000 ton-km is 1/11 to 1/15 of that of automobile transportation, and 1/174 of that of civil aviation transportation. However, both indicators are higher than those of coastal and inland river transportation.
The disadvantages of railway transportation are:
(1) The investment is too high. The cost per kilometer of a single-track railway is between 1 and 3 million yuan, and the cost of a double-track railway is between 4 and 5 million yuan;
(2) The construction period is long. It takes 5 to 10 years to build a main line. Moreover, it occupies too much land. With the growth of population, it will add more burden to the society.
Therefore, considering comprehensively, railways are suitable for transporting medium-, long-distance, large-capacity, time-sensitive, and high-reliability general and special goods in inland areas; It is more reasonable to build railways between them.