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US uses more rail than Europe for cargo (and the opposite is true for passengers).
by rjtavares 5y ago
US uses more rail than Europe for cargo (and the opposite is true for passengers).
- Robotbeat 5y agoYeah, 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!).