Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Dave
The box car is an endangered species. COFC is running it off the tracks. In the not-so-distant future all rail cars will be either containers or specialized bulk freight cars.
COFC could reduce long-haul truck traffic, but I think we're another innovation or two away in the truck-train or ship-train interface. There is still a lot of labor involved in the mode change.
Even better would be electrification of main lines. That way transportation could take advantage of coal or nuclear power and cut the importation of oil. This is within reach. The US has maybe 12,000 miles of mainline where most railroad fuel is used.
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Thanks Big Dave for the concise history.If you make it down to Texas,I owe you dinner or an omelette or something.------- The upkeep,maintenance,rationalization,and modernization of the R-R industry seems like a technological imperative,on all continents,if we want to maximize the potential for overland freight.-------- Perhaps,soon,we will tear down what barriers there are,which presently constrain optimization and figure out a symbiotic relationship where more people win.