Our Dutch one is too (privatized in 1995, it's one of our biggest employers as well), we have a nice railway system but the car is generally cheaper, even when using it alone. It's always about how much money the railway system is loosing, but I don't see anybody crying about the money our roads are loosing. Isn't it all just transport infrastructure?
Yeah that's in off-hours, where you get 40% off. So that means it's much more expensive when you need to get to the office during office hours. And your office is not next to the station.
Certainly there are times when it is worth it, and for example 's Hertogenbosch - Amsterdam has a train every 10 min. That is hard to beat. But NS is under a lot of pressure and will get more and more expensive and less attractive as a result.
Not even close. You can walk on a road, take a cycle, take a car. You effectively need no maintenance for the most part of it, or someone running something on it. 1 car, 1000 cars, there is no difference in 'running the road'.
On the railroad it is vastly more complex, with schedules, personnel that takes to run it, how many people end up using it. If one person rides in a train, it is a disaster and you literally lose money on it. If 1000s ride on it, you might be making money.
With roads that factor is almost non-existent, given that both take initial investment to build.
Roads, bridges, tunnels all need to be maintained, restored. And there is always the environmental damage that STILL has no price on it. Our Railroads are powered by "green" energy (a combination of Wind and Solar) and there is far less energy use and fine particulate production per person traveling [0]
That said, the equation probably comes out different for my country (the Netherlands) and the US. The Netherlands is more like New York than the US.
