Nicaragua's planned canal would [ destroy and pollute forests where endangered species live ]( http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/30/nicaragua-canal-forest-displace-people ) . I have to wonder whether a railroad might do a better job. Now that containers make it quick and easy to load and unload ships, the time it takes to move cargo from ship to train is only a matter of how long a ship must wait to be unloaded. Building more port facilities can reduce that to any level. A train line could carry the containers from one shore to the other faster than a ship could go through the canal. If one train line isn't enough, even ten parallel tracks would hurt the forest and the surrounding inhabitants less than a canal. Animals can run across the tracks, but it would be easy to make bridges across the train lines since trains are much less tall than ships.
Ссылка: https://stallman.org/archives/2014-jul-oct.html#30_September_2014_%28Nicaragua%27s_planned_canal%29