Current railways haul megatons of steel just to deal with buffing loads in the train yard, and are not good for small orders. An electric railway should have each car powered, so only a communications connection is needed. Short cars might add versatility, but I think the best plan is to integrate rail with electronic guideways and road vehicles, either by loading flatcars on the fly or, more likely, by adding steel wheels for intercity use, deployed when there are rails below. Joining a train should be as convenient as pushing a button to merge onto a freeway. A good guiding principle is that no land vehicle should outweigh its average payload. Break the old habits, and don’t use the pre-computer setups as seen in Europe as illustrations. They are too dependent on high volumes, and don’t stir the imagination.