Answer:
C. They transported people and goods more quickly.
Step-by-step explanation:
Remember, other than walking the main methods of transportation were horseback, horse drawn wagons and coaches, ocean going sailing ships, rivers (which presented a LOT of problems before locks and dams and before harnessing the -power of steam) and canals drawn by mules, horses or donkeys on a towpath pulling the canal boat with a horse.
Then came the railroad. It was a revolution. We could cross mountains that could not be crossed by rivers or canals. We could go faster, farther and how an exponentially greater amount of freight and/or people. Every town wanted a railroad. Big important towns got 2 or 4 railroads. It revolutionized commerce and provided transportation for the industrial revolution which was happening at the same time for the same reason, Steam power. This was true for the US, Canada and Europe at first. Within a few years most country of any significance had a railroad while they become even more common in the US, Canada, and Western Europe.