Regional Boards > Great Lakes and Ohio Valley
Indiana plans truck-only I-70 highway study
mightyace:
--- Quote from: Sykotyk on June 04, 2009, 11:50:18 PM ---A gallon of diesel can haul 22 tons on a truck five to seven miles (or roughly 1 ton about 1,440 feet). A gallon of diesel can haul 1 ton of product roughly 422 MILES on a train.
The added expense is the offloading, and that you still need a local truck driver to a) take the product (container, intermodal, etc) to the train at the starting point, and another local driver to pick up the product at its destination. You also need the equipment and employees to load and offload containers, etc. Throw in the time, it's not that efficient.
Hauling goods by truck, or by train, is a very small cost of the actual price you pay at the store. Only BIG items wide up costing more because the shipping cost per item is more.
Sykotyk
--- End quote ---
Sykotyk,
Those figures give with an article in the July 2009 issue of Trains magazine.
Now to compare apples to apples, all figures are MPG for 1 ton of cargo.
Truck: 155 miles (in yours 7mi x 22 tons = 154)
Train: 413 miles (vs. 422 in yours)
But, there's one with a higher number,
Inland towing (Barge): 576 miles
Of course, your routes are much more limited with inland waterways.
Alps:
A truck can haul 1 ton about as far as it can haul 22 tons. Fill both a truck and a train to capacity. Then see how much fuel it takes to move that many tons. Then divide. That's the only way to compare.
Revive 755:
A train has the option of being powered by electricity instead of diesel fuel. I don't have nor know how much that would affect costs when the initial starting costs are included, but I have to wonder if that option would be better than truck only lanes given how often oil prices seem to creep back up anymore.
--- Quote from: mightyace ---But, there's one with a higher number,
Inland towing (Barge): 576 miles
--- End quote ---
Is that figure for with current or against current towing?
mightyace:
--- Quote from: Revive 755 on June 05, 2009, 04:45:24 PM ---A train has the option of being powered by electricity instead of diesel fuel. I don't have nor know how much that would affect costs when the initial starting costs are included, but I have to wonder if that option would be better than truck only lanes given how often oil prices seem to creep back up anymore.
--- End quote ---
The BNSF Railway (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) is considering that. The operating costs of electric railways can be cheaper than diesel or steam, especially since trains braking or going downhill can put electricity back into the grid. The main reason that it hasn't been implemented is that the initial capital cost to build the infrastructure necessary for electric operation is tremendous. It's doubtful we'll see significant freight electrification in this country unless fuel goes up outrageously and/or government aids building the rail infrastructure. The privately owned railroads currently must rely on private capital almost exclusively.
--- Quote from: Revive 755 on June 05, 2009, 04:45:24 PM ---
--- Quote from: mightyace ---But, there's one with a higher number,
Inland towing (Barge): 576 miles
--- End quote ---
Is that figure for with current or against current towing?
--- End quote ---
It doesn't say. I'm guessing it's an average of both. Though, the Trains article said that the barge fuel efficiency could be even higher as the diesel engines in most barges are equivalent to rail road diesel engines of 30-50 years ago and modern diesel engines of that size can be twice as fuel efficient.
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