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I see I am not alone about 5.00 a gal gas. There is another thread talking about it. Again , we need to make diesel cost less than gas, and get people to switch over. Natural gas also for the trucking industry.and speciality autos/delivery vehicles....Bottom line , gasoline is old, outdated,and polluting, we do not need it when there are better ways to fuel our vehicles.
This I absolutely agree with for an interim solution.
Hate to tell you, but there are plenty of "high-wide" corridors on the rails. In fact, things like Boeing fuselages travel cross-country by rail because highways can't accommodate them. Yes, there are many areas where that is not possible, but, in part, that is because the rail infrastructure has not kept up with needs. I agree with you that the country would "go down" in a matter of days without trucking right now, and THAT is exactly the problem-- because infrastructure deterioration, and soon-to-be exploding fuel prices and outright shortages ARE going to take the long-distance trucking industry down. In fact, the long distance trucking industry is already on the ropes in many places. If fuel goes above $4/gal. for diesel fuel this summer, as some expect it may, we will see a real bloodbath in the trucking industry. I don't dispute that short-distance trucking connected by inter modal rail will continue to be both essential and necessary, but the long-distance component needs to go.
I do a lot of research on the transportation industry, and rail in particular, but back when I had the equivalent of a CDL and did some driving for awhile, so the trucking industry is something I do have some direct knowledge about.
If you want to " improve" the rails, it would take a massive rebuild. new roadbeds , right aways, major new bridges. High Speed rail, good example, can not work with the system we have now. We already have the Interstate Highway system, it needs repair, but that would be at a less cost than an almost total. replacement of the rail system.
Yes there are high and wide corridors for rail ( we do some rail also ) , but they are mostly in the West. The East is the real problem, with all the old infrastructure that goes back over 100 years or more.
Your prediction that OTR trucking will crash is also not true. The price of fuel does keep going up,but there are fuel surcharges in place, we add that on to the invoice. It changes weekly, and the surcharge by law must go to the trucker who pays for it at the pump.
Inter modal is an established system, mostly for moving consumables, small items, and ocean containers. It has its problems, but works for what it does well. That will never replace trucks. The railroads would have a hard time doing just in time transport. They can only compete in special dedicated runs that have the daily volume to justify.
I see you are a Railroad guy , and I understand why you have the opinions. However , bottom line , trains just can not be flexible, its the nature of the beast. Trucks can and will continue to serve the nation for many years to come. We have many shippers that will not use the rails, there goods get damaged, destroyed, lost , and takes forever to get to their destination. There is the credibility issue also, the railroads can not tell where the goods are in transit. With a trucker, the shipper can talk to the driver that delivers the goods, hard to do with a train.....Like I said , its been 40 years in this business of logistics, truck,water,air,and rail. No one has the flex that truck have,and that's what we need in today's fast moving marketplace, worldwide.
Improving the rail infrastructure actually costs substantially less than rebuilding roads, by a large factor. As I said, rail can't replace all trucking, but it can replace a substantial percentage of it--and will have to do that not very far in the future.
Trucking got where it is because a) it receives a massive indirect subsidy via the roads it uses that automobile traffic pays a disproportionate share to maintain; and b) because, in an era of cheap energy, the flexibility and time efficiency of trucking was cost-effective for shippers. Those days are over--as fuel surcharges, etc. make trucking more and more unaffordable to more shippers, they will gladly trade some time efficiency and convenience to ship via the much more energy-efficient rail option. It's already happening to some extent and will probably accelerate quickly once shippers recognize that high fuel costs are here to stay. The biggest challenge the railroads face is being able to ramp up capacity fast enough to cope with the onslaught of business. That is both a capitalization challenge and also changing the thinking of railroad management steeped in decades of habits of shedding excess capacity to maintain profitability.
As to high-speed rail, I've posted on that before. I don't consider it much of a solution to any of our current energy/transportation problems. It is horrendously expensive to build, and we can never afford it for more than a few key corridors. What is needed is serious rebuilding of our existing EXTENSIVE conventional rail network to carry both passengers and freight. It did that quite successfully three-quarters of a century ago with technology far inferior to what the railroads have right now. And that could be done at a fraction of the capital cost of trying to expand or even maintain our increasingly moribund highway network. That highway network is dying, and there simply will not be enough capital available in this country to rebuild it, much less expand it. It's one of things breaking the country as it is.
They have to get as much as they can before we slap price controls on the entire system or simply nationalize our domestic industry and take over any foreign oil fields that our army can occupy.
We do not need much more than improved maintenance to run fast trains on the existing system. We were running many passenger trains and some freight at over 100 mph in the early 1900's. To return to these speed we need to make the FRA and the industry much more flexible.
According to a recent article on a high speed special freight train from central California and Washington to upstate New York, this train took five days to cover 3,000 miles. It averaged only 25 mph. I could do better in a 1960's VW Bug! Five days for 3,000 miles is inexcusable. No wonder trucks are so popular.
Considering we only have five big railroad companies in the national freight business I wonder why we allow the dictates of profit to control such a vital industry. Maybe they should all be nationalized so we could make the improvements needed for a 21st century system instead of a 20th century disaster.
For what it is worth I am in the conceptual design stage of a ground transport system that would operate at aircraft speeds and rail tonnage. I need financial support to continue this work so anyone with some capital is requested to DM.
Improving the rail infrastructure actually costs substantially less than rebuilding roads, by a large factor. As I said, rail can't replace all trucking, but it can replace a substantial percentage of it--and will have to do that not very far in the future.
Trucking got where it is because a) it receives a massive indirect subsidy via the roads it uses that automobile traffic pays a disproportionate share to maintain; and b) because, in an era of cheap energy, the flexibility and time efficiency of trucking was cost-effective for shippers. Those days are over--as fuel surcharges, etc. make trucking more and more unaffordable to more shippers, they will gladly trade some time efficiency and convenience to ship via the much more energy-efficient rail option. It's already happening to some extent and will probably accelerate quickly once shippers recognize that high fuel costs are here to stay. The biggest challenge the railroads face is being able to ramp up capacity fast enough to cope with the onslaught of business. That is both a capitalization challenge and also changing the thinking of railroad management steeped in decades of habits of shedding excess capacity to maintain profitability.
As to high-speed rail, I've posted on that before. I don't consider it much of a solution to any of our current energy/transportation problems. It is horrendously expensive to build, and we can never afford it for more than a few key corridors. What is needed is serious rebuilding of our existing EXTENSIVE conventional rail network to carry both passengers and freight. It did that quite successfully three-quarters of a century ago with technology far inferior to what the railroads have right now. And that could be done at a fraction of the capital cost of trying to expand or even maintain our increasingly moribund highway network. That highway network is dying, and there simply will not be enough capital available in this country to rebuild it, much less expand it. It's one of things breaking the country as it is.
Without the revenue the Trucking Industry provides to the States in fuel taxes, income taxes, etc. many of the western states would find it hard to justify the highway system. The railroads would be required to pick-up the slack in lost tax revenue....The Railroads have always been private enterprise ( except during WWI ). I wonder how you see the infrastructure costs be paid for, public or private ? We are talking about a lot of highway overpasses and crossing changes. Also , what about all the areas of the Country where the rails have been pulled up and the roadbed is now a bike path?
As far as rebuilding the highways, look to see more toll roads, more foreign ownership, or management . That's not good , but I see it coming, trucks or not.
We look at the future in different ways. I see the Railroads as the bulk carrier,that's where they are the most efficient, little change. I see the flex that trucking has continue to grow as the demand for just in time, personal services, competition in a high tech age get more demanding. UPS and FedEx have replaced Railway Express long ago. I do not see a return to an old outdated mode of distribution. As the demands grow and more industry returns to our shores , I see less and less COFC. Bulk and consumables have a great future on the rail, but the trend today and into the future will be more choices and demands by and for the shipping public. The Railroads would have a hard time providing those services on a cost effective basis.
The basic problem with trucking comes down to pure physics. Steel wheels rolling on steel rails will always be more fuel efficient than rubber tires running on asphalt or concrete. When fuel efficiency becomes paramount, as I predict will absolutely happen within a few years, most stuff will have to move by rail or it won't move at all. We, as a nation, can either begin now to modify our infrastructure and living arrangement to meet that coming reality, or we will suffer the consequences of a largely paralyzed distribution system, with all the pain, hardship and suffering that goes with that.
A friend who is in upper management of a railroad summed it up for me a couple of years ago, paraphrasing what he said here: Every penny per gallon that diesel fuel goes up in price hurts our expenses, but it hurts the trucking industry three times as much. So, every time fuel prices increase, we pick up market share from the trucking industry. Our worry for the future is having enough capacity, not having too much.
Eaton worked with IBM, the EPA, and UPS to develop technology that allows braking energy in the trucks to be captured and used to power a hydraulic system which supplements the main diesel engine for lower-speed city driving, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions - the world’s first hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.
it's too bad that the costs for automakers to develop, test, re-tool, and deploy this technology to the masses are way too high...and besides, I don't think there's enough capital floating around this country anymore to fund such endeavors, so we're all better off learning to rely less on autos and re-prioritize their importance in daily life.
The problem with trains , it is an economy of scale. Takes a lot of rail cars to make a trip profitable. You seldom see a two thousand horsepower 300,000 lb. diesel locomotive going down the tracks with three or four cars in tow.The logistics to put all this together and meet the needs of the many customers has to be combined in the cost, the allowed services, and the time it takes to make delivery. Once the train reaches the destination rail yard, its only half way there in time and expense. Manpower, cranes, riggers and trucks are still needed to make the final delivery, where ever that may be....And that is on the delivery end, the same services had to be employed when the products were shipped , unless the shipper had rail siding. Most of the new Industrial complexes around the country do not have , or have abandoned the rails into their facilities.
Probably the most exciting research with algae is being carried out by scientist Glen Kertz in El Paso, Texas with Vertigro. Algae is grown inside of high-density bioreactors constructed from plastic sheeting inside of a greenhouse. Flow paths formed within the plastic sheeting allow water and algae to constantly circulate through the system. Algae can reproduce six times in a 24 hour period, so it grows very quickly and is constantly being syphoned off. The algae is then refined and the oil is extracted, but nothing is wasted. The benefits to Vertigro are numerous. First, since the plastic sheeting is hung vertically, 100,000- 200,000 gallons of oil per acre can be produced. Second, the greenhouses can be placed on non-arable land as long as it receives plenty of sunlight, so deserts are a perfect location. Third, it uses a minimal amount of water because it cycles the water through a closed circuit system. Forth, the biomass that remains after the oil is extracted can be used in various ways. Lastly, with Vertigro, there is no need for heavy farm equipment that pollutes the air to harvest the algae. The algae is easily collected in receptacles.
Mercedes driven on diesel produced from Algae:
Combine that with a diesel-hybrid system similar to trains with a battery big enough to carry the car around 40 miles on a charge (plug in diesel hybrid) and we're set.
Volvo has a plug-in diesel hybrid wagon coming out soon getting an average of 120 mpg.
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