>>1754744If I had an unlimited budget, everyone gets a broader standard rail gauge (say 2000mm), straighter tracks and a larger structural gauge for larger, faster and more luxurious trains. The tracks are ballastless with continous welded rails. I would also electrify the entire network, separate tracks from all other traffic and crossings with bridges and tunnels, make exclusive tracks for rapid/express and freight, have separate lay-by tracks for platforms rather than trains stopping on the main track, make all platforms flow-through/Spanish platform where pax enter one side of the train while leaving on the other, makes all platforms flush with the train floor, and perhaps even put the high-speed network entirely underground to avoid weather, traffic, etc.
As for network design, I would focus on a sort of hub and spoke system where HSR travels between cities, express trains to towns/counties, and an all-stop service from towns to all the villages. In major cities, I would create an underground metro in a grid pattern, where all stations are roughly 1km apart and lines run north/south and east/west at exclusive separate depths.
If I were starting from scratch in the 21st century with modern/emerging tech, I would make all trains driverless and put conductors in each train instead, use maglev for HSR, and put platform barriers on every platform. I would also have a car park at every town/village station, a large luggage rack in ever carriage, and a carriage dedicated to bikes, prams and wheelchairs.
