A big part of this is about who pays for the infrastructure. In the US at least, most roads are paid for by the public whilst railways are paid for by the company that owns them. To make matters worse, while the cost of making a 13 lane highway is externalized, many states charge taxes per track mile, which incentivizes single-tracking.
Essentially what you end up with is that if you’re sending goods by train, you’re paying for both the maintenance of the train tracks and the roads the trucks use, whereas if you send them by truck you’re only paying for the road maintenance. This is a direct government policy that selects for trucking over rail, despite the inefficiency.
I was an over the road trucker for a bit, and this was one of the first things that struck me. Going through Chicago is a literal river of trucks 24/7. Absolutely no reason 90%+ couldn’t be a train. Just fucking embarrassing really. We let the money management bros into the train system and this is what we get.
Now look at trucks (18 wheelers) and try to decide if they’re cheaper than trains when factoring in infrastructure maintenance.
A big part of this is about who pays for the infrastructure. In the US at least, most roads are paid for by the public whilst railways are paid for by the company that owns them. To make matters worse, while the cost of making a 13 lane highway is externalized, many states charge taxes per track mile, which incentivizes single-tracking.
Essentially what you end up with is that if you’re sending goods by train, you’re paying for both the maintenance of the train tracks and the roads the trucks use, whereas if you send them by truck you’re only paying for the road maintenance. This is a direct government policy that selects for trucking over rail, despite the inefficiency.
I was an over the road trucker for a bit, and this was one of the first things that struck me. Going through Chicago is a literal river of trucks 24/7. Absolutely no reason 90%+ couldn’t be a train. Just fucking embarrassing really. We let the money management bros into the train system and this is what we get.
It’s not a literal river
Figuratively literal means figuratively. It’s even in the dictionary now, sad to say