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Europe has rail. Does anyone know if they use fewer trucks than in the US?

by f6v 5y ago

rjtavares 5y ago
US uses more rail than Europe for cargo (and the opposite is true for passengers).
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Yeah, I don’t think people really grok that. They think “US hates rail, Europe loves it,” but this only applies to passenger travel and for freight, it’s flipped. Maybe part of the reason the US has less passenger rail is because freight rail is prioritized and we use airplanes and automobiles instead due to the vast distances between many of the population centers and the lower overall population density (a given random two geographic locations will have fewer people moving between them and therefore will be tougher to justify passenger rail). Also, sea transport between different coasts of Europe is a little easier than between East and West Coast in the US because you don’t need to go through the Panama Canal. Then again, the US does have a very good inter coastal waterway and good navigable rivers both via the Mississippi and through the Great Lakes (thanks, Canada!).
nraynaud 5y ago
I'm not sure we do (whatever we normalize by to compare the 2 big areas), freight trains are not big in Europe, because of size. Our most populous and wealthy countries are next to each other. For trains, you need to amortize the cost of loading/unloading. basically if it's worth it to put it on slow transportation "coast to coast" we have a single continuous boat path between the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the US does have to think twice when sending a ton of things from LA to Texas, it's either train or Panama Canal.
mrweasel 5y ago
Rail is rarely used for freight in smaller countries, because you have to move it to trucks anyway to get it moved the last 0 - 200km anyway. So if the country is only 400km wide, you’re wasting to much time load and unloading.
- pmontra 5y ago
  This but also the _first_ 0-200 km. Many manufacturers (especially small and medium size) are located far away from major rail networks.

Europe has rail. Does anyone know if they use fewer trucks than in the US?

by f6v 5y ago

Europe has rail. Does anyone know if they use fewer trucks than in the US?

rjtavares 5y ago

US uses more rail than Europe for cargo (and the opposite is true for passengers).

Robotbeat 5y ago
Yeah, I don’t think people really grok that. They think “US hates rail, Europe loves it,” but this only applies to passenger travel and for freight, it’s flipped. Maybe part of the reason the US has less passenger rail is because freight rail is prioritized and we use airplanes and automobiles instead due to the vast distances between many of the population centers and the lower overall population density (a given random two geographic locations will have fewer people moving between them and therefore will be tougher to justify passenger rail). Also, sea transport between different coasts of Europe is a little easier than between East and West Coast in the US because you don’t need to go through the Panama Canal. Then again, the US does have a very good inter coastal waterway and good navigable rivers both via the Mississippi and through the Great Lakes (thanks, Canada!).

nraynaud 5y ago

I'm not sure we do (whatever we normalize by to compare the 2 big areas), freight trains are not big in Europe, because of size. Our most populous and wealthy countries are next to each other. For trains, you need to amortize the cost of loading/unloading. basically if it's worth it to put it on slow transportation "coast to coast" we have a single continuous boat path between the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the US does have to think twice when sending a ton of things from LA to Texas, it's either train or Panama Canal.

mrweasel 5y ago

Rail is rarely used for freight in smaller countries, because you have to move it to trucks anyway to get it moved the last 0 - 200km anyway. So if the country is only 400km wide, you’re wasting to much time load and unloading.

pmontra 5y ago
This but also the _first_ 0-200 km. Many manufacturers (especially small and medium size) are located far away from major rail networks.