# Ranking of transportation systems of Countries



## jis (Jan 11, 2012)

An interesting ranking of the transportation systems of countries of the world, including rail, done by Business Week can be seen in the article titled _Cars, Trains, and Planes_.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 11, 2012)

1	India << India certainly has an impressive network. Now they just need to modernize their technology. (IMO)

2	China << Just think, Chinese rail used to be worse than America's a decade or so back and now they're #2.

3	Japan << Japan might have been my pick if it were up to me.

4	Russia << Looks like Russia's modernizing programs are paying off.

5	France << Fastest scheduled service and fastest tested train IIRC.

6	Germany << Even Germany's low-speed trains are punctual and clean.

7	United Kingdom

8	Ukraine

9	Italy

10	Egypt

11	Korea

12	Pakistan

13	Spain

14	Switzerland

15	Poland

16	Netherlands

17	Iran

18	Kazakhstan

19	Belgium

20	Austria

*21	United States* << Damn, we're already behind Kazakhstan?! :angry2:

22	...

23	...

24	...

25	...

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27	...

28	...

29	...

30	...

31	...

32	...

*33	Canada* << At least we're not quite as backward as the 51st state above us. :giggle:

34	...

35	...

36	...

37	...

38	...

39	...

40	...

41	...

42	...

43	...

44	...

45	...

*46	Mexico* << Good thing Mexico followed America's advice to privatize passenger rail. 

47	...

48	...

49	...


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## Shawn Ryu (Jan 11, 2012)

There is no way Egypt should be ahead of Korea, or anyone of 1st world aside from US and Canada and Australia in terms of rail.


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## jis (Jan 11, 2012)

Some of the ranking is counter intuitive perhaps because a large weight is given to actual usage of the system. That is extremely large patronage would trump the best technology but with significantly lower patronage in the ranking.


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## Shawn Ryu (Jan 11, 2012)

^Fair point. But ranking based on the quality of the system shouldnt take account the quantity.


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 17, 2012)

I am not surprised India ranks #1 in passenger rail. Heading there later this week and have around 5000-odd miles of train travel lined up. Will share some tales (and photos) once I am back.


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## jis (Jan 17, 2012)

Shawn Ryu said:


> ^Fair point. But ranking based on the quality of the system shouldnt take account the quantity.


Depends on how you define "quality". For example is a system that has fares so high that only a few can use it necessarily a better quality system for the overall economy? A system that is unusable by most of necessity is a poorer quality system overall than one that is more universally usable and available for use.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 17, 2012)

Texan Eagle said:


> I am not surprised India ranks #1 in passenger rail. Heading there later this week and have around 5000-odd miles of train travel lined up. Will share some tales (and photos) once I am back.


Although I did not post in your past trip report threads I did enjoy reading them. I would be very interested in seeing a similarly thorough report on your experiences in India. Along with any comparisons and contrasts you'd like to impart to those of us who are unfamiliar with the train services over there. It might help folks like me who are 'on the fence' make up our minds. ^_^


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 17, 2012)

Texas Sunset said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > I am not surprised India ranks #1 in passenger rail. Heading there later this week and have around 5000-odd miles of train travel lined up. Will share some tales (and photos) once I am back.
> ...


Glad to know you liked those. Yes, I do intend to write detailed narratives of my train journeys from this trip. Meanwhile, as an "appetizer" of sorts, here is a link to a trip report on my personal blog about a train journey from Delhi to Mumbai on one of the prestigious trains in India called "Rajdhani Express" from two years back. This was written specifically for Indian audience so it is peppered with several terms and phrases that are India-specific and may not make sense to a foreign reader, but if you have any questions, do bring them forth and I will try to explain


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## jis (Jan 17, 2012)

Texan Eagle said:


> Glad to know you liked those. Yes, I do intend to write detailed narratives of my train journeys from this trip. Meanwhile, as an "appetizer" of sorts, here is a link to a trip report on my personal blog about a train journey from Delhi to Mumbai on one of the prestigious trains in India called "Rajdhani Express" from two years back. This was written specifically for Indian audience so it is peppered with several terms and phrases that are India-specific and may not make sense to a foreign reader, but if you have any questions, do bring them forth and I will try to explain


nice blog.

BTW those idiotic SAIL ads have completely disappeared at least from all the Rajdhani and Durontos headed towards Howrah/Sealdah. Instead they now wrap the rest of the car minus the windows with weird advertizing stuff. but I can live with that as long as they leave the windows alone.


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 17, 2012)

jis said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > Glad to know you liked those. Yes, I do intend to write detailed narratives of my train journeys from this trip. Meanwhile, as an "appetizer" of sorts, here is a link to a trip report on my personal blog about a train journey from Delhi to Mumbai on one of the prestigious trains in India called "Rajdhani Express" from two years back. This was written specifically for Indian audience so it is peppered with several terms and phrases that are India-specific and may not make sense to a foreign reader, but if you have any questions, do bring them forth and I will try to explain
> ...


Yes, Eastern Railway removed those ads after a non-resident Indian railfan wrote a complaint letter to ER headquarters. However, the same is not being followed by Western Railways. All consists of the New Delhi - Mumbai Rajdhani Express now sport ads of a certain _Sharda University _pasted *only *over the windows while the remaining entire coach is in standard Rajdhani livery. It looks hideous from outside and annoying from inside. See this photo. I am just happy none of the trains I will be taking on my journeys in India this time have the ads stuck on windows, at least as of today!


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## Anderson (Jan 18, 2012)

I think I know why Egypt is so far up the list: Though the ride probably isn't very nice on some trains by first world standards, there are a dozen departures per day from Cairo to Aswan and vice-versa. Between Cairo and Alexandria, you've about as many options as between NYP and WAS (I count 31 trains each way). Also, while some trains seem to be an experience right out of a movie, others are seem to be very nice with European-built cars, air conditioning, and so forth.


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## DET63 (Jan 22, 2012)

An interesting stat that I would like to see addressed is international capability. Is it possible to get to the country without having to fly in? For insular countries (except the UK or those with frequent boat service) this might be unfair, but for countries with land borders, it would be interesting to see what the data would be.


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