alt Hacker News>In terms of launch cost, Starship makes launch cost negligible. Some estimates are that it will cost less to launch a tonne to orbit, than to ship across the US by train.
So in this world vision obviously companies will start shipping iron ore and coal by starship from one coast to the other because it will be cheaper than trains. In fact all trucking worldwide would be replaced by space ships because they would be cheaper than trucks by far. I can't see how it will ever be cheaper to build a literal space ship and launch it than to put stuff on a train. This all reads like some super optimistic early 50's scifi.
I didn't say it was cheaper to ship coast to coast by starship. I said some estimates predict it cheaper to ship to orbit, than train coast to coast.
You're also mysteriously adding in build cost for starship, and not the train. Starship is reusable.
To orbit
Think of how short a distance "to orbit" is.