Answer:
Some people think that governments should
invest more money in railways rather than roads. However, in my opinion, there
are more advantages when governments invest their funds in railway systems
rather than roads. The reasons are that railways are more eco-friendly and have
better time and cost efficiency.
First of all, a railway system offers more
environmental benefits compared to using a car. Most of trains and cars work
using fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and natural gas. When it comes to
the number of people that can transport by a train and a car, a train can
transport more people and consumes less energy with low emission. However, each
individual vehicle can only take a few or tens of people. According to a
research studied by a group of the University of Queensland, Australia, the
consumption of energy per capita used to transport 500 people by a train is 14
times less than the one used to transport the same number of people by 4
door-sedan. In addition, it should be noticed that a lot of asphalt is also required
to build the roads. Asphalt is a material that can be produced during
refinement process of petroleum which generates a lot of chemicals that might
be harmful to our environment.
Second of all, railways are more efficient
to the public compared to roads. It is time efficient since trains would not
suffer from traffic congestion like cars on the roads. Thus train systems are
more punctual compared to vehicles on the roads. Moreover, buying a ticket to
take trains is more affordable and easily accessible for ordinary people
compared to buying an individual car which requires a lot of fortune. Besides,
it will not require a large space for parking especially in downtown area of
the large city. It is well-known that people are struggling with searching car
parks and high rates for parking in large city. It is also a huge burden for
federal governments or state governments to secure more parking space in
metropolitan areas.
In a nutshell, by taking the environmental
benefits and time and cost and time efficiency of railways, the advantages of
using trains as a transport system far outweigh those of using vehicles on the
roads. In this regards, I strongly hold that governments should invest more
funds in railways rather than roads.