tonybelding

Check it. . .

As Public Highways Choke, Railroads Enjoy a Renaissance | Autopia from Wired.com

I had no idea this was happening. I thought something like it ought to happen, I wanted to see it happen, but I always sort of cynically assumed that businesses were too short-sighted and set in their ways to ever put their goods on trains.

Moving freight on the rails saves fuel, saves congestion and wear-and-tear on the highways, and eventually the railways also can be electrified. It's expensive -- electrifying a railway costs about as much as laying the tracks in the first place -- but it's already been widely done in Europe, so we know it can work.

Jeff

Great article Tony. I think this is where we should be going. All those semi's that congest our highways will be headed toward the nearest off ramp. At this point any reduction is a good one. Semi's also account for a large proportion of emissions on highways. Just look at the black smoke pour out from those things. We should be investing in rail but not just any rail network. Linear AC induction motors can propel magnetic levitation trains through the countrysides. They are extremely costly at this point. But I personally think this is one technology that will allow trains to truly shine. The crafts ability to hover inches from an induction rail will increase reliability tenfold. Once perfected, the benefits will be obvious and difficult to ignore. Mag Lev trains commonly travel in excess of 300 mph. I read an article awhile back stating the velocity is expected to continue climbing and some scientists claim they will eventually achieve 900 mph or more due to the flexibility that inherently comes from the ability to hover.

Kardax

A typical train can haul something like 1 ton of cargo 400 miles on a single gallon of diesel. They sacrifice a lot of versatility, but the efficiency of rail is phenomenal.

As fuel costs become an increasingly large component of transport expense, trains are going to continue to see growth in popularity.

flabby

Hey Kardax, just curious where you got your numbers from?

Kardax

I can't remember, but I think they were put out by a railroad company.

Keep in mind that a train is hauling thousands of tons. It's going to be burning fuel at an astonishing rate; but it's getting a lot done while doing it :)

It's a very obvious case where economies of scale plus the inherent efficiency of a smooth track with no stopping and a sustained speed pay off in a dramatic way.

-Ryan / Kardax

Kardax

Found it: U.S. railroad stocks like Norfolk Southern are a good buy - November 13, 2006

-Ryan

vfx

There's a commercial running right now that shows a beautiful countryside then follows a silver car up a ramp and onto a train. They end with a line something like- 1 ton of cargo moved for XXX miles on X gallons.

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vfx

It's hard to get excited about the beauty of electric rail when one thinks about all the old Electric trolley systems that used to exist but were forced out or destroyed by corrupt politicians in conjunction with evil business practices by GM (under the name "National City Lines"

The electric systems had 16 billion passengers by the mid 20's. The NCL would systematically buy up rail lines let them fall into decay and then convert them to unprofitable bus lines then finally make the bus lines disappear altogether leaving only highly profitable gas-guzzling automobiles.

It's all in Edwin Black's "Internal Combustion" chapter 10

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The world loves to be deceived.

BBHighway

I've seen that commercial from the railrroads. While the railroads are very efficient, and much better than trucks, I think they are using some clever sleight-of-hand calculations to make them seem even more so.

The railroads don't explain how they come up with those numbers, but I think they do it by taking an existing train, carrying thousands of tons of cargo, that is already going 480 miles, and add one ton to it.

If you drive your car 480 miles, and measure how much fuel it uses, then repeat the trip but add one extra pound to you car, you'll find that your car can carry one pound of cargo 480 miles on about a teaspoon of fuel. Cars are great! Or so you could make it seem.

Despite the distorted ads, I'm very much pro-rail.They are much more efficient than trucks. In Europe, they have a many long haul trains that run on overhead electric power. This process is incredibly efficient, since the engines don't have to carry heavy diesel generators of fuel tanks. I'm not sure why it's not as popular in the US.

In Vancouver, they have a bus-trolley system. They have buses that are powered by an overhead electric system, like trolleys. The big advantage is that they don't need tracks like a traditional trolley. Otherwise, they work pretty much the same way. I don't see why more cities can't go with a similar system. I probably takes some work to set up the overhead wires, but can't be that bad.

Cobos

It seems that San Francisco has that as well.
My own experience says that trams or light rail is usually better than trolley-busses for one thing, comfort. Even though from an enviromental viewpoint not having to lay tracks or use heavy trams does save energy. But then again trams has a very smooth ride and usually is very quiet. Of course I take a tram line to work that runs about 18 times an hour so I'm a bit spoiled :)

Cobos