Efficiency of rail shipping vs. truck

I’m always amazed at the volume of frieght that seems to be carried around the country by truck, and I wonder how much use railroads get for freight anymore.

How much does rail transport cost vs. truck transport? Would you ever use trucks for large volumes of frieght as opposed to rail (assuming the facilities for both already exist)?

Is there a hidden subsidy for trucks over rail? I always thought that rail would be more efficient, but maybe I’m just flat-out wrong.

In theory, trains are more efficient than trucks. Steel wheels on steel rails has the lowest friction, and economy of scale makes one large locomotive more efficient than many diesel truck engines, in terms of moving more mass using less fuel.

However, trains run on a schedule, and require loading & unloading time. A single truck can go at any time, and be loaded & unloaded faster. So for efficiency of time, a truck might be better if it’s a rush delivery.

Trains also go only on specific routes, on the railroad tracks. Now these are laid along the highest volume routes for goods, between cities, ports, mines, etc., but you still have to get your goods from the rail yard to the factory or warehouse where they are needed. That is almost always done by truck nowdays.

In fact, it is inter-modal (combined truck-train) that is probably the most efficient transportation system now. This involves a truck hauling cargo to the departing rail yard, the container box of cargo being lifted off the semi-truck onto a flatbed rail car, the train hauling it most of the way, then the container being lifted off the railcar and put onto another semi-truck to be hauled the last few miles from the rail yard to the final destination. This takes advantage of the railroad’s higher efficiency for long distance cross-country transportation, and the truck’s higher efficiency for shorter, scattered destination hauling.
As for subsidies, trucks ride on public roads built & maintained with public money (not very hidden, the roads are right in public view); railroads had to build their own roadbed & tracks, and maintain those themselves. Though many railroads did receive government subsidies when they were originally built, 150-200 years ago. Often this was in the form of land grants: the railroad got the land to build the tracks for free, and got a certain amount of the adjoining land also, which they could then sell. (But this land was valueable only if the railroad was successful in increasing settlement & growth in the area.)

Currently, I’d say trucks get more government subsidy than railroads do. Which mode has had the most subsidy over the years would be a hard question to answer – might be a good topic for a Masters thesis in Economics.

Also, trains run at a more constant speed - they don’t have to endure stop-and-go traffic. Every time a truck accelerates from a red light it’s burning fuel. Trains have a huge aerodynamic advantage as well; all the railcars are essentially drafting the lead locomotive. And of course, roads have steeper slopes than railway tracks.

There’s something called “just in time” (JiT) delivery, which has become SOP for many retailers in the past couple of decades. Your local supermarket, or big box retailer has very minimal storage for stock, almost all their inventory is on the sales floor. This requires frequent, well timed deliveries. Something that is currently impossible by rail. Most of these entities have regional warehouses where prmary inventory control takes place and the goods are then transshipped to the individual stores. Even these distribution centers rely, in large part, on JiT truckloads.
I think this will become a political issue in the, not to distant, future as truck traffic continues to increase, the driver shortage increases and the highway infrastucture continues to suffer.

[odd factoid from the dark dusty corners of Rick’s mind]
Often they will lift the entire semi trailer onto a special flat car that has subsitute 5th wheel to couple the trailer to. Two semi trailers to a flat car.
So you load the trailer, drive it to the rail yard, a crane puts it on the train. At the other end, a crane takes it off, and a tractor takes to where ever.
This system is called piggyback.
The special rail cars are called pigs. :slight_smile:
[/OFFTDDCORM]

I think you’ll find piggyback shipping of semi trailer pretty much being phased out. Almost all modern semi trailer have air bag suspension in addition to leaf springs. The air soon leaks out of the bags when they’re no longer attached to the truck’s compressor system. This makes for a very rough ride for the trailer and it’s cargo.
The latest thing is rail cars designed very low so that the can load double stacked containers, thus they can load 4 containers to each rail car.

Probably depends on what you mean by efficiency. If you mean fuel efficiency, or general overall resource efficiency, then probably rail. If you mean time or money, it’s probably truck, which unfortunately means that’s what the market chooses, much of the time.

There’s an old saw in the transport game that handling is everything. The standard quiz question:

Option One - load a container onto a ship at Long Beach, sail it around the world and back and take it off again

Option Two - load a a container onto a ship at Long Beach, sail the ship out of the port limits, turn it around and take the container off. Then do it again.

Which is cheaper? Answer: Option One.

What is required is door to door transport. Unless you have your own rail siding, that means loading stuff onto a truck, off the truck onto a train, off the train and onto a truck, then off the truck. The potential time and fuel and wages savings theoretically available with road/rail/road sadly tend to get gobbled up in handling time and charges.

I’ve heard claims before that vehicle licences/car taxes are a big subsidy, because the damage caused to roads by heavy vehicles is many times greater than that caused by cars, and this is not reflected in an equivalent tax differential.

The OP might be interested in this new setup in Britain, using a fairly small government grant to get a lot of private freight traffic off roads.

I’ve heard the claim that truck don’t pay their fair share and maybe if you pencil out a ton/mile comparison there may be some truth to it.
Let me give you an example of the cost to an independant operation one truck. Up until the early 90’s there were a hodge podge of state laws governing truck taxes and fees. Then came the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA). Members include all 48 contigous U.S. states and all Canadian provinces, except NW Terr. and the Yukon. Each jusisdiction has an IFTA office and they control the basic registration. At each registration, or renewal, the truck owner must designate which jusisdiction they intend to operate in and pay a varying fee for each. My base plate registration used to run around $1300.00 annually. In addition you must keep a record of miles traveled in each jurisdiction and, either show that you purchased sufficient fuel to cover those miles, or pay the tax per gallon for the amount of fuel needed to cover the miles. These are quarterly reports and failure to file will result in suspension of registration, or worse. In other words if you purchase fuel in Ca. and drive across Az. without fueling, you still have to pay the Az. taxes.
Even though IFTA was supposed to standardize taxing for truckers, there are many states that still find other ways to get a few more bucks out of you. I.E.: Oregon does not charge fuel tax on diesel for commercial trucks, but you must buy a fuel permit each year and pay a ton/mile fee of about twelve cents a mile. Other states charge property taxes on you equipment, even though you’re not a resident.
In addition, truckers are resticted in lane usage in many states and also restricted from certain highways.
Many think we can just pass on the cost, but that’s easier said than done.
IFTA helped a lot, but there are many other reforms needed in the trucking industry and, if you share the highway w/ big rigs, you should be concerned.

Being a locomotive engineer for a major western railroad, here are a few stats for ya.

Here is the average ‘‘train dope’’ on a typical stack train after departure from Long Beach to points east.

4 Dash-9 locomotives. Each loco has 4400 HP for a combined HP rating of 17,600 HP per train.

Train is 7800 feet long.

Train wieghs aprox 6500 tons.

Train carries aprox 220 containers. (Thats 220 trucks on the highway per train!)

Average number of stack trains leaving Long Beach per day by UP and BNSF railroads to points east ----------------38 trains! Thats 8,360 containers per day going thru Cajon Pass alone! Remember a truck can haul only one container!

Besides stack trains, we have our pig trains, coal trains, manifest trains, coil trains, grain trains, rock trains, work trains, and a few others.

Total average number of trains going east and west thru Cajon Pass per day–192 trains. Thats 96 trains westbound and 96 trains eastbound.

Average number of trucks required to haul all this frieght per day including frieght from other types of trains such as propane, coal etc…?-------82,000 trucks! PER DAY! And that is thru just one mountain pass in Calif.

Trains are here to stay.
Take Care!

For moving commodities such as coal, chemicals, lumber, etc., nothing can beat the trains. If we had to move all of that stuff by truck the system would collapse.

In my younger days I worked in a warehouse that loaded and unloaded both trailers and rail cars. While the amount that a trailer can hold is impressive, you can’t really conceptualize how much a rail car holds until you unload one.

As for subsidies, one legally loaded tractor/trailer puts as much wear and tear on a highway as 900 passenger cars. Trucks are subsidized. Nonetheless, they are vital to the distribution system.

What people don’t realize is how impressive the US distribution system is. The combination of railroads and interstate highways really moved the country ahead in a big way. Now, the other developed countries are catching up but distribution is everything when it comes to growing an economy.

There’s still a huge amount of freight shipping by rail. The freight companies have been doing fairly well in recent years. We’re just more aware of trucks because we see them more often. It’s also easier to establish a new truck route than to build a new rail line, obviously.

Real-world numbers. Cool!

Those 8360 containers would require one driver each if they were carried on the highway. A typical freight train crew these days is what, 3 or 4? (I’m ignoring support staff for either mode like locomotive or truck mechanics, track and road workers, dispatchers, etc.) 38 trains per day x 4 crew = 152, or a savings of 8208 truck drivers per day.

Expanding that to the coal, propane, pigs and whatnot - 768 crew to move it all by train or 82,000 truck drivers.

Looks like the savings in time and fuel is insignificant compared to the savings in payroll.

Not only that but there is currently a shortage of truck drivers and it is expected to get worse. The industry is trying to recruit people that have been laid off or lost their retirement and benefits from other jobs. While there are a lot of sacrifices in becoming a long haul driver it can be a good way to get health insurance for the family and build up some retirement.

Is this something that the experts in this thread (e.g., A.R. Cane and Architeuthis) could comment on: specifically, how does the cost of truck and rail shipment break down, by fuel, labor, capital equipment, etc. For example, in the IT/data-center industry, skilled labor costs are usually greater than equipment or infrastructure costs - even though everyone tends to focus on how much each server costs, it’s the support staff that tends to drive the total cost of operation. Thanks.

I see that containers and piggyback trailers have been mentioned. But nobody brought up the RoadRailers of Triple Crown. http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/Bimodal.html

I see a lot of these running along I-70 in Eastern Missouri.

Here is one factor that was not mentioned. I think things have improved since I first read about it, but it accounts for the large early growth of trucking over established trains. When I was growing up, all trains (by then virtually all diesel) had firemen and water handlers. More importantly, a full day’s work was defined to be 100 miles, probably 2 hours work. After that a complete change of crew was required. Trucks, on the other hand, are often individually owned or anyway competing with individually owned drivers. They are often on the road for 15-18 hours every day. That is how they outcompete trains whose crews are working 2 hours a day.

Routes were often laid out in the 19th century and have not kept up with huge population shifts since then. New rail lines are hardly ever built and the old ones seem to be disappearing gradually or, for lack of maintenance, required to run at very slow speeds. Passenger trains have nearly disappeared (except in the NE corridor).

On the former Santa Fe ‘pre 1985’ the average train crew consisted of 5 persons-

Conductor
Hog Head (engineer)
Fireman
Rear brakeman
Head brakeman

Union negotiations and buyouts post 1985 then reduced the average frieght crew
to three persons-

Conductor

[QUOTE=Architeuthis]
On the former Santa Fe ‘pre 1985’ the average train crew consisted of 5 persons-

Conductor
Hog Head (engineer)
Fireman
Rear brakeman
Head brakeman

Union negotiations and buyouts post 1985 then reduced the average frieght crew
to three persons-

(sorry, hit the wrong key, let me continue)

Conductor
Engineer
Brakeman

Since then crew sizes have been reduced to two persons on most frieght trains
except locals, road switchers and yard jobs.

Conductor
Engineer

Now it seems that most class 1 railroads would like to reduce crew size to 1 man and send the conductor the way of the Dodo.

Here are a few more tid bits for ya .

Railroads also have what they call guarantee service whereas the consignee will pay the shipper, in this case the railroad a very high premium providing that the train departs the initial terminal on time and arrives on spot on time. Kind of like FedEx on rails. These trains are mostly UPS, mail and packages
When I first hired on with the railroad these trains were known as ‘‘hotshots’’ today we call em, ‘‘shooters’’ or Z trains.
In very rare cases these trains will have priority even over passenger trains! For me nothing is more pleasant than watching an Amtrak hogger having to ‘‘rot in the hole’’ as we get around him!

As far as more technical questions go, such as fuel to weight ratio’s, fuel savings, taxes, savings compared to the trucking industry I have no clue. I simply operate the train.
A friend once asked me if I enjoy my job. My answer ‘’ there is no feelling in the world as having 22,000 horsepower at your finger tips in run 8 and doin 70mph across the desert!