Living in Alaska like this is feels to me way more sustainable than living in a city with millions of people - might be wrong though, I guess it’s a question of scale.
When you say subsidised you mean the state is paying for essentials here?
The cost of bringing a large, heavy and loaded freight train to a standstill in the middle of nowhere so that a single passenger can board is non-trivial.
There’s definitely an economic reason that stations exist.
The ticket they have is subsidised by the money the state-owned corporation makes from freight.
I've seen a couple of videos and I think you've missed some information, at least if we're talking about the same thing. The train is specific for a bunch of flag stop people along it, small locomotive and only a few cars. It might not be as sustainable as walking to the store but it's probably on par with driving an SUV to Costco weekly, especially when a lot of stuff at Costco is trucked not rail.
Yeah I'm not arguing that this is an eco paradise and that we should all copy the model. I don't love subsidies either but I far prefer little ones like this to big ones where several big companies benefit and we're all paying for their profits.
When you say subsidised you mean the state is paying for essentials here?