Railroads.... a DYING industry?

Well, since I have always wanted to be an Engineer. Well, since I can remember, there has been talk of all the RAIL lines going bankrupt. Well, in this day and age of TRUCKS and PLANES.... Are rail lines still considered ancient History? Will, the railroad finally only exist in Museums and History Books?

Actualy railroads are running at 100% capacity and are looking to grow.

My American History teacher told the class that railroads were not doing very well. I told him (nicely) in front of the whole class he was wrong. (BIG gasp from whole class.) I told him that railroads were not so good in the 1970s, but this is the 21st century. I added in that railroads haul twice as many goods now as they did in World War 2.

STAR TREK 40TH ANNIVERSARY

the reason they are doing so well is the fact that virtually everything is produced outside of the U.S. now

where do you think all the goods produced in those containers came from?

In my UP InsideTrack employee newsletter I received today it says our net income was at $1 billion in 2005 versus $604 million in 2004. Non GAAP earnings for 2005 increased 18% over 2004. That doesn't sound much like a decline.

Rail is easily the most efficient way to transport freight in many circumstances.

Good news then....

I read an editorial in a magazine recently that gave figures similar to this...

Railroads alone handle over 42% of American frieght...

Trucking handles approxiamately 10%....

The rest is divided between sea and air and other modes of transportation...

In terms of tonnage, that 42%+ that railraod carry is enormous but the 10% that trucking moves around reaps the most profit.

The article also suggested that even with the decline in infrastructure (track, right of way, etc...), the amount of tonnage hauled has extremely increased due to an increase in efficiency. The most commonly hualed load is coal.

The industry is actually still on a rise as other modes become more expensive.

I'll have to look through my magazines to pin point the exact aritcle and where it can be found...

the problem is, rail cannot grow to meet need

putting in new mainline track (track, ROW, signaling, etc.) by adding or extending sidings or adding another main track is very expensive, and sometimes not even possible due to not having room to do so and environmental requirements

especially on the east coast

wall street looks down on capital investments, because they are short sighted

and wall street types RUN the railroads now

to expand trucking capacity is trivial, all you need is a few more trucks and trailers, and a driver

doesnt get any simpler than that, and trucks are infinetly more versatile than railroads, that is why they have been eating their lunch for 30+ years

"Railroads handle 42% of the freight" 'Trucks haul 10%"

Not sure what magazine you're reading to get your facts, but perhaps it was an issue from 1920? In 1998 (latest statistics I could find in a quick google search) the trucking industry handled 10 billion tons, while the railroads handled 2 billion...a 5 to 1 ratio, truck to rail. Perhaps you're not taking into account that all railroad intermodal loads have at least one movement by truck, with a good portion having a truck involved on both ends.

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/present ... _nasto.htm

trainwayne1 wrote:"Railroads handle 42% of the freight" 'Trucks haul 10%"m

Perhaps that's an intercity long-haul ratio (ton-miles), which may very-well be (especially by tonnage - by value trucks beat railroads very handily, even with the growth in container shipping).
I agree, if you include intra-city (even if it is from an intermodal yard) and short-haul (think a warehouse distributing from a warehouse to many supermarkets in a given region) then trucks (alas) again beat rail.

I am the safety director for an intermodal carrier. While we haul directly from the ports in Newark, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston & Savannah; the rest of our locations [50%] are all working from railheads, Chicago, Detroit [via Chicago], Columbus, Cleveland & Atlanta.

Sometimes it really is convienience. We serve one customer in Kentucky from one seaport in the south. Another location picked up the same customer 'cause the rail shipment to a closer railhead added TWO weeks to the delivery time while we get them there the day after it comes off the ship.

Same idea, a shipper exporting from the midwest uses our trucks to get the goods to the port to make the ship sailing day after tomorrow; he can't wait two weeks.