If TikTok is to be believed, all the cool kids are trainspotters these days. Luckily, economists can get in on the act, because transport connections are crucial to cities’ growth.
But not all train stations are equal. If you’re a size matters person, you want your station to be a terminus – the end of the line. Specifically, you want it to have been a terminus for a good chunk of history. Research finds that the longer a town’s station has been an “all change” kind of place – even if decades back – the larger its population and economy today. It examines railways spreading west from Brazil’s São Paulo from the mid-19th century. They often developed in fits and starts, with a line built to one town but not going on to the next for some time. Such stop-start nonsense would never happen in Britain…
