You're kind of missing the tradeoffs involved in long haul trucking vs rail. Even with highway subsidies involved, trucking is significantly more expensive than

You're kind of missing the tradeoffs involved in long haul trucking vs rail. Even with highway subsidies involved, trucking is significantly more expensive than rail is. Like, brief google-fu puts 2007 rates at 16.54 cents per ton-mile for trucking, vs 2.99 for rail -- so, roughly speaking, LHT is over five times as expensive as rail is. Given that folks are paying for LHT, it's important to figure out why. And the answer lies in just-in-time production and pull-based production systems. These systems put a large business value on the timeliness and flexibility of delivery. For many processes, saving $150/ton or so on transport doesn't matter if it means putting another day's worth of inventory into your production system, especially if if it risks producing the wrong stuff.