CURE is talking about about captive shippers and recievers. I cant think of anything that has to move by rail. Many power plants are near bodys of water and could get there coal in barges. Powder River Coal could be moved by a US Army Canal or by conveier. http://www.railcure.org/ CURE complains that the cost of many comedities shipped by rail is more then the cost of the comodity at the mine or the field. This is not new. When I worked in recyclibles the cost of USED Tires or Concreate to ship was always more then the price of the product whether it was by truck or by train or even water. Many power plants get there coal by truck even when there is rail in there backyard. The Power plant in Cumberland MD (home of a hughe CSX Yard) gets there coal in by truck. Other then dimensional loads what has to go by rail?
That depends on how you define "has to." Considering rail as the only viable option may be the result of one (or more) of the following transportation issues unique to that particular movement in question: 1) economic considerations; 2) safety; 3) "logistics;" and/or 4) dimensions.
Example of (1): Coal moving from the PRB. There are no canals, nor are there conveyors/slurry pipelines to provide modal competition. Leaving aside canals and conveyors (both impractical in this example), a slurry pipeline has enormous cost and environmental ramifications... the idea has been bandied about, but it's doubtful you'd ever see that happen in the PRB or any other large coal reserve area. You could move the coal by truck, LTL, or even air freight... but the cost to transport to power plants becomes prohibitively expensive on an absolute basis, i.e. compared with other energy production methods, and on a relative basis, i.e., compared against other coal sources.
Example of (2): Shipments of "ultra-hazardous" materials are sometimes restricted from air and road. An example would be hydrocyanic acid.
Example (3): Shipping and/or receiving plant is designed for rail. In such cases, it can be prohibitively expensive to modify the plant to receive alternate modes... going back to (1)
Example (4): Dimensional loads may "have to" go by rail due to cost (see [1]) or clearance limitations on competing mode rights-of-way, e.g., road bridge heights.
PS: While some shippers are captive and some pricing inequities MAY exist, I wouldn't be looking to CURE for an objective critique... or sensible solutions.