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Why not rebuild railroads here in the US? On a trans-country trip by Amtrak, I was struck by the number of abandoned spurs to industries which still seem to be

by 2sk21 8y ago

Why not rebuild railroads here in the US? On a trans-country trip by Amtrak, I was struck by the number of abandoned spurs to industries which still seem to be operating. Presumably those industries have switched to road-based transportation.

slededit 8y ago
Rail freight in the US is the highest in the world. Europe focuses on passenger rail which is where the misconception comes from. However the vast majority of the freight is travelling cross country from west to east. Last mile rail is incredibly inefficient which is why intermodal has taken over. The shipping container is simply transferred from the train onto a truck bed for the last mile. This eliminates the need for expensive and rarely used spur lines which is why you see them mostly abandoned.
RobLach 8y ago
Freight rail in the United States is unmatched. Cheapest ton/$ and on-time. Coal power plants are comfortable scheduling supply intake on a daily granularity as it’s very rare for it to arrive late. It’s also a reason passenger rail is more dismal in the states; the rails are operated by the freight companies and passenger trains have the lowest priority so they pull over to let a 2 mile train of coal pass by at 15 mph. It’s also difficult to expand this capacity as the complexity of handling so many trains isn’t linear. Rail yards are both tough to revamp because they’re near 100% in-use and even just tough to physically expand: http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/files/2016/07/rail-yards.jpg http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/files/201...
HissingMachine 8y ago
If you have 1000 trucks and 10 000 containers to be moved, you have a problem with 100% of the delivery distance. Now if you cover 80% of the delivery distance by rail, you still have the impossible calculation of transporting 10 000 containers with just 1000 trucks for the resto of the 20% of delivery. This has been the problem since beginning of logistics, the bottleneck on the last mile to target.

by 2sk21 8y ago

slededit 8y ago

Rail freight in the US is the highest in the world. Europe focuses on passenger rail which is where the misconception comes from. However the vast majority of the freight is travelling cross country from west to east. Last mile rail is incredibly inefficient which is why intermodal has taken over. The shipping container is simply transferred from the train onto a truck bed for the last mile. This eliminates the need for expensive and rarely used spur lines which is why you see them mostly abandoned.

RobLach 8y ago

Freight rail in the United States is unmatched. Cheapest ton/$ and on-time. Coal power plants are comfortable scheduling supply intake on a daily granularity as it’s very rare for it to arrive late. It’s also a reason passenger rail is more dismal in the states; the rails are operated by the freight companies and passenger trains have the lowest priority so they pull over to let a 2 mile train of coal pass by at 15 mph. It’s also difficult to expand this capacity as the complexity of handling so many trains isn’t linear. Rail yards are both tough to revamp because they’re near 100% in-use and even just tough to physically expand: http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/files/2016/07/rail-yards.jpg http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/files/201...

HissingMachine 8y ago

If you have 1000 trucks and 10 000 containers to be moved, you have a problem with 100% of the delivery distance. Now if you cover 80% of the delivery distance by rail, you still have the impossible calculation of transporting 10 000 containers with just 1000 trucks for the resto of the 20% of delivery. This has been the problem since beginning of logistics, the bottleneck on the last mile to target.