on trains

now it goes without saying that this has nothing to do with a free market solution to shitty travel. for more on that see walter block on private highways i cant find a similar free market anarchist piece on rail travel probably because rail has become synonymous with state provision. maybe this from the LA there's plenty of criticism and explanation of the failure of state rail but not as much descriptive futurology for rail as there is work like Block's for roads. mad as the guessing game of predicting the world in anarchy is im addicted to such Heinleinian sci-fi libertopian fantasy (also worth a look The Probability Broach by L Neil Smith). it seems highly likely that after years of total ruination, the uk (almost made the mistake of saying our rail network) rail network, designed and built by private enterprise (admittedly with some state help of the worst kind in the form of compulsory purchase orders etc) will be beyond economic viability and there may well be no trains. maybe with deregulated airspace cheap airships may take their place or perhaps the far less exciting but more realistic option of private buses and coaches will prevail. anyways Mitchell, bless his bbc socks, does a far more entertaining rant than i so here he is.