> This is true only for contrived examples comparing the vehicles directly. Comparing the real-world throughput of a highway vs. a rail line (in the US) and the density advantage goes away.
Does it? Can you post some information to back that up?
I'm not a transportation analyst, but this might be a reasonable comparison.
In Chicago there's a commuter rail-line that carries 6,171,000 passengers per year (~17,000/day).
There's a tollway that runs roughly the same route that carries 240,000 vehicles per day. Even if you divide that across 8 lanes you get 30,000/day. That number would go up if since there's often more than one person per vehicle.
Trains and rails are amazing at moving people between fixed points during rush hour, but are vastly underutilized the rest of the time.
In the future, it would be great to see rail lines replaced by dedicated self-driving lanes where cars could safely go 100+ mph.
Does it? Can you post some information to back that up?