the most accurate to gauge a nations progress is to study its railway network

 railways were one of gods greatest gifts to man

 if a country is proud of its railways

 then it is going forward

 if it neglects them

 then the opposite is true

 in my country the railways have declined alarmingly

 with miles of track fading quietly

 as it rusts and returns to nature

 stations are derelict

 major towns are not served

 and hamlets and villages have been totally forgotten

 shopping centres have replaced 

the beautiful city stations  

 with modernist waterfalls

 now providing entertainment

 where once the platforms used to stand