Across the globe, there are suggestions of directing the resources of governments into constructing railways instead of roads. As a citizen of Egypt, I do support this statement, whereby railways are more in demand than usual roads, due to the fact that railways are faster, safer, and more practical for both industrial and individual uses.
Railways have the merits of being faster than cars and buses, especially in a geographically large country such as Egypt. To illustrate further, consider a trip from Alexandria, which is a city in the north of Egypt, to Aswan, which is located in the south. Such a trip with car will need more than 24 hours, in addition to the extreme physical fatigue of driving for long distances. Contrary to cars, a trip by a train will take only 8 hours, with the advantage of being more comfortable for the passengers. Furthermore, railways record the lowest number of accidents across Egypt; whereas, car accidents happen in daily bases. Additionally, using railways is a faster and cheaper option for trading commodities across Egypt.
Moreover, raliways are more environmentally friendly especially with the electrification process of raliways. For example, the new railway line from Aswan to Cairo runs completely on electrcity which is generated from photovoltaic cells and wind energy rather than using coal, oil, or gas. Besides that, using domestically generated energy contributes to a more stable economy by reducing the import rates of fossil fuels. On the other hand, the vast majority of cars in Egypt use fossil fuels as their primary source of energy, which causes higher emission rates of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Furthermore, using electric cars do not seem to be a viable option for the average Egyptian resident due to the high operational cost and the absence of experts required to maintain and fix electric vehicles.
To sum up, it is obvious that railways are more viable and practical solution for problems such as traffic and connecting remote areas for individuals, companies, and the government. Additionally, a new type of trains named “Maglevo” is undergoing developments, and it is expected that this train will break the sound barrier with lower operational and manufacuring costs, which will indeed contribute to the prosperity of our planet.