Ok i'm thinking if someday multi cities get built on mars would any kind of rail system be worth having to connent main bases with smaller cities for personal and supply transport?
TBH, the way business is run, it will be whatever is cheapest to build and run and generates huge profits which means that until their is a very sizeable population, it won’t happen at all. I doubt also that smaller bases will get a look in as they won’t generate enough profit. Let’s face it, we’re human. We’ll have screwed up this planet and will have no difficulty screwing up Mars as well. On a cheery note though, we’ll all be dead before this happens.
We evolved over millions of years to live on the planet and in the environment we evolved in. We’ve only slightly changed the environment on Earth and we cannot live much longer with the finite resources and our self imposed slight but rapid change to the atmosphere, and nature is now fighting back against the veritable plague that is the modern human race. There is no way we can colonise Mars, as you are basically starting off with an uninhabitable planet. But it will be interesting seeing the artist’s impressions of the transportation systems they are never going to build up there. The End.
And how the hell are DTG going to get there for the sounds when they do their version of the Mars line in TSW 3050........
Pretty safe to say that any transportation system in any future will only have a passing resemblance to the legacy systems on Earth (because they won't be constrained by existing infrastructure, as well as having significantly different scope and restrictions due to the environment and resources). Monorails, capsule/pod tubes, hover, maglev etc Also, I'd hazard a guess they would be completely automated too, because you know, future.
Colonisation of Mars is one of those questions which is a matter of perspective. Considering virtually the entire modern world has been shaped in the last 120 or so years, and from Horses and Carts to People having a stroll on the moon, Humanity has come far as technology has broken through. Look at what your reading this with. New technology in human history. I wouldn't put Mars past it. However, if it happened, it would need to happen whilst Earth was still habitable & Resourceful. After all the supplies would need to be taken up, domes with constant Oxygen supplies, Farming space, homes, workplaces etc. Ways for travel to and from Earth. Considering how long Humanity has been here and how much we have done in the last Century and a bit anything can happen. Transport on Mars would be interesting as the closest resemblance to Earth would be the concept. Mars has a different Newton number (so gravity) than earth, has different weathers like wind, and ultimately we would have to adapt to it. It would be interesting to see however I think it would be a long time away.
The Mars transit pods in the Expanse are kinda cool design too, in that the rails are beside the cars rather than underneath, so you can have a pair of double-sided rails handling both directions of traffic.