Hi, thanks for the game, great game.
In version 1.42, the High Speed Rail Subsidy policy does not actually increase rail use.
The State Rail Company option, by contrast, does increase rail use.
I tentatively suggest that, once this is fixed, additional policy options should be introduced to affect the equality of income access to rail services, similar to the “Free Bus Passes” and “Subsidized School Bus” options. However, as this game delights in noting, when you change one thing, it affects other things - it would be harder to avoid triggering “Bureaucracy” by adding these new policies.
Another option would be to just change “Free Bus Passes” to “Free Transport Passes” so that it covers both bus, and rail. This would not be a very specific policy, but a “Free Rail Passes” policy, and a “Free Bus Passes” policy, would be identical in most ways, in that they would ultimately reduce vehicle use and income inequality. However, increasing rail use would increase the size of the rail industry, or the cost of the State Rail Company, and may be more or less cost-efficient than bus passes depending on the speed of the rail.