For years and years people have been saying that the railways are dead. “We can do without railways.” people say, as if motorcars and planes made the railways unnecessary. We all keep hearing that trains are slow, that they lose money, that they're dying. But this is far from the truth. In these days of expensive oil, the railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they're cheaper than planes. And they have much in common with planes. A plane goes in a strange line and so does a railway. What is more, it takes you from the heart of a city into the heart of another. It doesn't leave you as a plane does, miles and miles from the city center. It doesn't hold you up as a car does, in endless traffic jams. And a single train can carry goods which no plane or motorcar could ever do. Far from being dead, the railways are very much alive. Modern railway lines give you a smooth, untroubled journey. Where else can you eat well, sleep in comfort, feel safe and enjoy the scene while you are traveling at speed at the same time? And we are only at the beginning. For we have just entered the age of super­fast trains, traveling at 150 miles an hour and more. Soon we will be wondering why we spent so much on motorways we can't use because we have not enough money to buy the oil and planes we can't fly in for the same reason.