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One third of the population of Switzerland lives within 5 kilometers of the main train line crossing the country
(reddthat.com)
Source (yes sorry it's LinkedIn, if you any another one, I'll update): https://www.linkedin.com/posts/prof-stefan-michel_notsweden-train-activity-7210174690827370496-8iJz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
Isn't this statement kinda backwards though? Surely the big cities developed along that line due to the natural geography (flat land, near bodies of water and with protection from the mountains) and then once trains first came along, it made sense to connect those cities. It's not that people happen to live within 5km of the trainline, but that the trainline was built there because that's where people lived.
But train lines develops cities. I know that when a train line that connects big cities extends to smaller town they boom.