Why Railroads Matter

There is no technological replacement on the horizon more efficient than railroads. Freight transportation efficiency is a cause for the entire continent to rally behind. –Michael Sussman, Founder and Chairman of OnTrackNorthAmerica

Introduction

90% to 92% of new industry in North America is truck-served only. As industrial development across North America surges, this is unsustainable from both an environmental and economic perspective. Freight rail service remains essential to industrial, community, and environmental vitality.

We can no longer afford to pit rail and truck transportation against each other. It is time to shift to using each mode in greater concert. Rail and Trucking productivity will significantly improve within an integrated redesign of our transportation and industrial systems.

Physical Aspects of Railroads

The physical strength of hard steel wheels rolling on hard steel rails enables a dime-size contact patch between the two components. The benefits of this physics deliver the critical energy, fuel, and emissions savings.

Railroads' energy efficiency creates space and capital efficiencies. They are space efficient in that a 100-car train can carry the goods of a 27-mile convoy of 300 tractor-trailers. While each of the 300 trucks passes every 30 seconds for 2.5 hours, the train passes in 4 minutes, providing 2 hours and 26 minutes of quiet. This also improves the quality of life for citizens adjacent to rail lines versus roadways.

Economic and Environmental Aspects of Railroads

Railroads’ capital efficiency is evident. Tracks, wheels, and railcars are long-lived requiring much less maintenance and replacement than trucks, their tires, and the road surfaces they use.

Tire wear, another critical friction cost, is one of the greatest source of microplastics in the oceans and air, with 18 tires on each truck causing a large portion of that pollution.

Future of Railroads

Demand for freight capacity continues to increase as North America expands its efforts to re-shore manufacturing and address unstable global supply chains.

With ongoing environmental issues - rail transportation reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75% - and increasing road congestion and costs, this is an opportune time for railroads to align their business models with the urgent need for better and more sustainable supply chains.

As part of an expanding rail industry, investors, infrastructure funds, shippers, and communities, can and will provide ample capital for this growth strategy while enjoying a higher return on investment.

Tools for Planning

The time has come to base infrastructure investment decisions on a sensible optimization of resources.

VitalRail uses the Land Freight Lifecycle Impact Calculator, the world’s first public side-by-side comparison tool of each land freight mode's long-term return on investment. It is a data-driven visual guide for shippers, planners, communities, and investors to properly assess infrastructure and logistics plans and investments.

For more information about the background and underlying research for the Land and Freight Calculator, see the article on comparative evaluation of highways and railroads using life-cycle benefit-cost analysis published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Volume 18, 2024 - Issue 10.