Government should spend money on railways rather than roads. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Transportation makes the world smaller, which is the reason why the transportation system of a country - an important part of the infrastructure - is always among the main concerns. But which modes of transport make more benefits in order to be invested more? Some people argue that between railways and roads, governments should spend more money on the former rather than the latter. This can be effective, but not in all cases.

First of all, the advantages of railways are undeniable. While there can be traffic jams leading to delay in transporting on roads, this almost never happens to railways. Trains have their own ways to operate on, and, together with their huge sizes, are often able to carry a much bigger amounts of people and goods per trip. This helps a country to attract high value contracts involved in delivering tons of commodities, and consequently makes it up for the investment of the economy.

Saying all the good things above, railways also have disadvantages, explaining why roads cannot be out of date. Firstly, railways can never win when it comes to flexibility with all kinds of destinations and simpler procedures. Moreover, Trains are much more expensive to make than most of road vehicles, and they require a higher deal of money for their own trails, which are not accessible to lots of places. Railways end up needing other supporting vehicles which are often ones running on roads. Finally, thanks to the development of technology in vehicle manufacturing, more and more road vehicles with a wider range of choice in designs and sizes are made to fit specific needs.

Statistics, however, has it that accidents are more likely to happen on roads rather than on trails. Take the case of Vietnamese traffic system, road vehicles are getting out of control, especially in big cities, causing many social problems such as regular yet serious congestions, illegal motorbike racing, traffic accidents,....What is meant by this is that both methods of transporting have benefits and drawbacks. Governments, as policy makers, cannot be subjective while making decisions on investments. They should keep a balance of budgets for railways and roads, and wisely spend money on where each method proves to be the better.

In conclusion, whether it is a right choice for governments to spend more money on railways rather than roads or not can only be agreed or disagreed when a certain context of a country is given.