a cheap way of getting trains from a to b!

Just run 'em down the road! This is done even today, and in the USA of all places. This is Michigan City where the interurban trains run right down the street - an incredibly cheap and easy way of introducing rail that avoids land costs and new engineering. Although this film is from 1995 this line is not only still running but flourishing, using electricity and hardly seeming to bother road traffic. After Peak Oil with far less traffic on the roads this will be an increasingly common sight, allowing railways to reach places easily and linking markets and populations quickly and cheaply.