I'd never made the connection between the gradual shuttering of coal plants and freight rail, but wow, that is a big deal. A quick search finds that coal is abo

I'd never made the connection between the gradual shuttering of coal plants and freight rail, but wow, that is a big deal. A quick search finds that coal is about 30% of rail tonnage in the US. A bunch more (not looking it up, but if you've ever seen a train, it's clearly also a lot of what they haul) is other fossil fuels. I wonder how they're going to cope with (let's give a very lowball estimate) 40% of their tonnage tapering off over the next few decades. Looks like coal shipped by rail is already way down from its peak, and dropping fast. Looks like they charge a premium for intermodal shipping—may have to cut prices on that to keep volume up.