I have seen several times in my second career when folks came to me with ideas for "inland ports", and nonsense like that, without any real idea of how freight economics or rail economics actually work (Dr. Demming's famous question: "What are we doing and why are we doing it?").

Many of these well meaning folks (trying to reduce truck congestion, pollution, etc.) had visions (not unlike those of Quentin Kopps "visions" on HSR) of "build it and they will come"..... As and economist, I would simply ask, without wanting to not to question the all knowing brilliance of narcissistic politicians, why, if this is such a good idea, aren't the RR's doing this now?

Thankfully, none of these schemes got to the point of wasting really vast of amounts public funds to make these delusions into a "reality" other than the useless studies we funded. I would do a scope that made sure we asked the questions we needed to ask, and when those were answered, these schemes usually died the quiet death most of them deserved.