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That article is about the European trucking industry: Close to 80% of road freight activity in Europe is performed on trips below 800 km I suspect that in the

That article is about the European trucking industry: Close to 80% of road freight activity in Europe is performed on trips below 800 km I suspect that in the USA, the distances are much longer, though I'd really like to see more of our long-haul freight being hauled by rail rather than truck. A lot of the cost of trucking is externalized -- one study says "Freight trucks cause 99% of wear-and-tear on US roads, but only pay for 35% of the maintenance". Trains are already around 3 to 4 times more fuel efficient than trucks... start electrifying rail lines and emissions could be cut even more. Charge trucks their share of that road wear and trains would become more competitive even if they take longer. Trucks won't go away, they'll still be needed for the last mile (or last hundred mile) delivery from the train terminal to the customer.

deleted 5y ago
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Sevii 5y ago
A lot of freight is already transported by rail in the US 18-30% depending on who you ask. This seems about on par with or bigger than the fraction of fright that travels by rail in Europe. Part of the difference is that rail in the US is used mostly for fright whereas people use trains to get around more in Europe. Passenger focused rail vs fright focused rail. 30% according to railroads.dot.gov. https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-rail-overview https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-r...
- User23 5y ago
  It's easy to forget what a big deal rail is in the USA, because the freight lines successfully lobbied Congress to allow them to eliminate the passenger cards they used to be required to add to the end of their freight trains. Back when that was the case passenger rail travel in the USA was cheap and ubiquitous, because it went everywhere the mail did. E.B. White has a wonderful little essay[1] about it. The full text can be found in the excellent Essays of E.B. White[2]. [1] http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=91313 http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=91313 [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/394616.Essays_of_E_B_White https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/394616.Essays_of_E_B_Whi...
deleted 5y ago
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ljf 5y ago
From a link on this page: Declining Length-of-Haul Today, the average length-of-haul is just 62 percent of what it was in 2005, decreasing from 800 miles to 500 (Fleet Owner). And the rate of decline appears to be accelerating. Since 2012, average miles driven between pickup and delivery have declined by 26 percent in reefers, 10 percent in flatbed trucks, and 9 percent in dry vans (Overdrive).
kjksf 5y ago
According to https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/FFF_2017_Full_June2018revision.pdf https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/FFF_201..., the US is the same (see page 15) 50% of freight (by volume) is under 100 miles. 84% under 500 miles. It'll take years to transition new truck sales to 84% electric. By that time the batteries will improve: cheaper, lighter / more energy dense and therefore we will make trucks that go even more than 500 miles.
dantheman 5y ago
Because of the Jones act we don't rally do shipping between US ports which would be a huge benefit.
- PhantomGremlin 5y ago
  We can do it, just not with ships flagged in Panama and manned by child labor from third world countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Act_(sailor_rights) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Act_(sailor_rights) the Jones Act ... requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. I gladly accept that over yet another race to the bottom using cheap labor and unsafe vessels.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    There's a world of difference between > just not with ships flagged in Panama and manned by child labor from third world countries and > . requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents So a Germany built ship, owned, under the flag of, and crewed by Canadians isn't allowed. It's blatant protectionism, nothing more.
PhantomGremlin 5y ago
the distances are much longer, though I'd really like to see more of our long-haul freight being hauled by rail rather than truck. It's not uncommon for a factory in Oregon to ship something by truck on Friday and have it arrive in South Carolina on Monday. This is done by having a two-person team transport the trailer across the country. It would literally take weeks to accomplish the same thing by rail. There is not a single national railroad. Also I don't think the rail system could handle a large increase in traffic. For example, in the past some US railroads tore up existing parallel tracks. This saved them a lot of money on property tax, but required using a single track in both directions. That type of setup doesn't work well when freight volume increases.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Sevii 5y ago

A lot of freight is already transported by rail in the US 18-30% depending on who you ask. This seems about on par with or bigger than the fraction of fright that travels by rail in Europe. Part of the difference is that rail in the US is used mostly for fright whereas people use trains to get around more in Europe. Passenger focused rail vs fright focused rail. 30% according to railroads.dot.gov. https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-rail-overview https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-r...

User23 5y ago
It's easy to forget what a big deal rail is in the USA, because the freight lines successfully lobbied Congress to allow them to eliminate the passenger cards they used to be required to add to the end of their freight trains. Back when that was the case passenger rail travel in the USA was cheap and ubiquitous, because it went everywhere the mail did. E.B. White has a wonderful little essay[1] about it. The full text can be found in the excellent Essays of E.B. White[2]. [1] http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=91313 http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=91313 [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/394616.Essays_of_E_B_White https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/394616.Essays_of_E_B_Whi...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ljf 5y ago

From a link on this page: Declining Length-of-Haul Today, the average length-of-haul is just 62 percent of what it was in 2005, decreasing from 800 miles to 500 (Fleet Owner). And the rate of decline appears to be accelerating. Since 2012, average miles driven between pickup and delivery have declined by 26 percent in reefers, 10 percent in flatbed trucks, and 9 percent in dry vans (Overdrive).

kjksf 5y ago

According to https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/FFF_2017_Full_June2018revision.pdf https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/FFF_201..., the US is the same (see page 15) 50% of freight (by volume) is under 100 miles. 84% under 500 miles. It'll take years to transition new truck sales to 84% electric. By that time the batteries will improve: cheaper, lighter / more energy dense and therefore we will make trucks that go even more than 500 miles.

dantheman 5y ago

Because of the Jones act we don't rally do shipping between US ports which would be a huge benefit.

PhantomGremlin 5y ago
We can do it, just not with ships flagged in Panama and manned by child labor from third world countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Act_(sailor_rights) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Act_(sailor_rights) the Jones Act ... requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. I gladly accept that over yet another race to the bottom using cheap labor and unsafe vessels.
- sofixa 5y ago
  There's a world of difference between > just not with ships flagged in Panama and manned by child labor from third world countries and > . requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents So a Germany built ship, owned, under the flag of, and crewed by Canadians isn't allowed. It's blatant protectionism, nothing more.

PhantomGremlin 5y ago

the distances are much longer, though I'd really like to see more of our long-haul freight being hauled by rail rather than truck. It's not uncommon for a factory in Oregon to ship something by truck on Friday and have it arrive in South Carolina on Monday. This is done by having a two-person team transport the trailer across the country. It would literally take weeks to accomplish the same thing by rail. There is not a single national railroad. Also I don't think the rail system could handle a large increase in traffic. For example, in the past some US railroads tore up existing parallel tracks. This saved them a lot of money on property tax, but required using a single track in both directions. That type of setup doesn't work well when freight volume increases.