Railways transport is capable of high level of passenger and goods utilization and energy efficiency but is often less flexible and more capital intensive than road transport when tower traffic levels are considered.

Rail transportation has been the product of the industrial era, playing a major role in the economic development of Western Europe, North America, and Japan, where such systems were first massively implemented. It represented a significant improvement in land transport technology and has introduced significant changes in the mobility of freight and passengers.

This was not necessarily because of its capacity to carry heavy loads but because of its higher ubiquity level and speed. Rail transport systems dramatically improved travel time as well as the possibility of offering reliable and consistent schedules that could be included in the planning of economic activities such as production and distribution. The coherence of economic activities and social interactions was thus substantially improved. Rail transportation was the first mode that brought scheduling and reliability to transportation systems, as its assets and services needed to be planned and geographically allocated.