4 ms·
Misaligned incentives are killing what's left of rail in this country. There needs to be a serious reckoning... or just a straightforward law about how long you
by banannaise 2y ago
Misaligned incentives are killing what's left of rail in this country. There needs to be a serious reckoning... or just a straightforward law about how long you can make a train, either in absolute terms or relative to the sidings available.
- nradov 2y agoDo you mean killing passenger rail? Because despite some occasional derailments, freight rail is generally doing pretty well. There is certainly room for improvement and the system is a bit strained but volumes remain high. https://www.aar.org/data-center/rail-traffic-data/ https://www.aar.org/data-center/rail-traffic-data/
- banannaise 2y agoRail now accounts for less than 10% of domestic freight traffic by weight, and less than 15% that of truck. Considering how much more cost-efficient rail is (and how much cheaper the infrastructure is), that's pretty bad. It's a slow death, but rail freight remains flat at best while total freight continues to increase.