Topic:

Governments should spend money (investment) on railways rather than roads. To what extent do you
agree or disagree with this statement?

Vocabularies

Freight: goods that are transported by ships, planes trains or lorries/ trucks; the system of transporting
goods in this way

Cargo: the goods carried in a ship or plane

Wagon (freight car): a railway/ railroad truck for carrying goods

Railways have been more successful than trucking at achieving reductions in their already very low
energy intensity

Intro

In developing countries, while governments make efforts to stimulate economic growth, they
also have to provide infrastructure for residents adequately. The transport infrastructure is one of the
national issues. Inside, railroads and roads are two systems that governments consider benefits and
drawbacks to invest the national capitals appropriately.

Firstly, in terms of consuming energy between trains and trucks, because the quantity of trains
is limited on the railroad tracks, compared to the vast of the street vehicles, and the trains burn less
fuel per mile than trucks, so that railways have been more successful at achieving reduction of
emission. Secondly, as rail cars can carry larger volumes over greater distance, rail freight is often
considered being cheaper than road freight. However, in the short distance, the street vehicles cost
more effectively and more economically rather than the railroad because the trains may operate more
difficultly than trucks. Finally, governments should think about the expanding ability of railways and
roads. Although the railways can transfer and deliver goods and passengers faster than road vehicles,
the systems only go through some crowded locations where the density of population is high. In this
case, the roads may show up the strength that can expand throughout every place over a nation from
rural to urban, and delta to mountain areas.

It is necessary to develop railway transportations, but in developing countries, spreading

railways actually consume a sum of national capital. Moreover, the railway stations spend too much
time to be built up rather than roads, which belongs to the long-term projects for governments to deal
with travelling issues. Instead, investment in roads seems to be a viable alternative in the short term to
solve transport demands instantly.

In conclusions, obviously, a nation can develop various transportation to response different

demands. Each form of transportation has its own pros and cons, so that the governments should
consider and set up the level of priority for each one to be suitable for national economy.