My own preference would be pipelines vs. trains. Assuming (and it's a big assumption) that they are well designed, constructed, AND maintained.
A pipeline can be made and kept very safe. If they will.
But, like you say, decision makers like to do things on the cheap, and defer doing the "right" thing. After having spent my working life in the chemical and oil industries, I know this far too well.
What always distressed me was how few people, managers and "underlings" alike, have the guts to say what needs to be said. I guess it's fear for their jobs and "career paths". I was never that way, and would march into whatever office I needed to, to make my case. (Not that it was always heeded.)
Glad to be out of that nonsense now, for enough years that it's becoming a distant memory.
About like WAVX is about to be. 
D&O
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