More Trains

Interesting post from Krugman today.

In thinking about how rail can ease some of our oil dependence issues, it is important to remember that interstate trucking is a pretty big part of this equation. Krugman’s post makes the point that the U.S. is doing better than Europe in that respect. The freight train industry is actually doing pretty well here as opposed to Europe where public investment tends to focus on high speed passenger transport. But, even with all of the diesel trucks and a growing freight train industry, our trucking industry uses a lot of fuel.

The real tangle is that if we want to think about how to use trains to lower our overall fuel dependency, we have to think hard about how to strike a proper balance between passenger transport and freight transport. In a lot of places, there are only one set of tracks. Prioritizing how those tracks are scheduled and used can make a huge difference in the efficiency of either passenger or freight systems. Europe seems to have struck the wrong balance for now.

Tags:   Elizabeth Cotten · freight trains · fuel consumption · high speed trains · passenger trainNo Comments