[linguae]

Germany has both the Autobahn and rail.

[adrianN]

The German rail network is chronically underfunded and Germany is completely incapable of building new lines. Per capita spending on rail pales in comparison to e.g. Switzerland and Austria.

[bombcar]

Germany is roughly the size of Montana, with the population of almost CA and TX combined.

[saimiam]

Shouldn’t that extra population in a limited amount of land lead to more demand and better outcomes for rail and roads?

[coffe2mug]

The locals value silence. It is not easy to put rails or roads. until recently people used to protest the noise of windmills (thats changing now).

[trains39472]

Given the reputation of the phrase "getting deutsche bahn'ed", I think they chose the Autobahn.