[jazzyjackson]

Have you considered that the real estate is valuable because there's a commuter train across the street?

iirc there are Japanese railroads that recoup their costs by owning real estate that appreciates in value once a train exists. In Los Angeles the great cable car conspiracy was kind of the opposite, real estate developers built a train to make the suburbs appealing, and then once all the property was sold there was no reason to maintain the trains so they were scrapped, bait and switch really