Isn’t that an opportunity to build up new multi use development at a lower cost? Recent HN thread discussed what must come first, mass transit or development for example. In this case, the mass transit can come first, with interconnections to existing higher density mass transit systems as needed.
It's a lot more profitable (in the good way) to build the rails and stations first, on cheap land, and have the cities grow around those. The builders of the railway get to capture the increased land value, rather than having to buy (or otherwise pay off) huge uninterrupted tracts of very expensive developed land containing thousands of homes etc. Buy low, sell high and all that.
