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These threads always focus on the lack of passenger rail service in the US but ignore that the US also has one of the largest, safest, and most efficient freight rail systems in the world[1]. I'd love to see it live!
https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-r...
I believe there was a quote from a railroad exec that Passenger rail traffic accounts for only 3% of the overall rail traffic in North America. If true, the map would be covered with Locomotives if freight was included (GP-40's are my favorite).
My impression is that a lot of the rest of the world has much better passenger rail, but uses freight rail quite a bit less. I wonder if part of it is due to the inverse reason to the US. Amtrak often complains that it gets sidelined (literally) because of freight usage of the same track. Is freight rail usage in, say, Germany, lower than the US because of the dominance of passenger rail?
Similar for Great Britain: https://www.map.signalbox.io/
Wow, I don't know why I thought there would be... Way, way more trains active at a given time. I suppose I overestimated passenger rail popularity in this country.. I knew it wasn't relatively huge, but there's several hundred miles in some cases between trains.
The site is incomplete, and there are way, way more trains active at a given time. For instance the Tri-Rail and Brightline (high-speed rail) in Florida each have 5-6 trains running simultaneously. Brightline is notable as the US's first credible foray into high-speed rail. Similarly most major cities in the US have either light rail, rapid transit, or both, which is maybe not included in this map. "Passenger rail" m…
Edit: if you’re referring to Brightline West, construction hasn’t even started.
In contrast have a look at a snapshot of air travel the other day. https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1729195110888620057?s=20 If we're looking for some low hanging fruit around how to possibly lower CO2 emissions, well folks here it is. The solutions to our climate problem have been staring us in the face since the 1900s.
I'm not really sure how you can call it "low hanging fruit" when its overall contribution to global emissions is only 2%, and how hard it is to build HSR projects in the US.
[1] https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/aviation
>In 2022 aviation accounted for 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a big part of the country's history; the project was a key bargaining chip to get BC to join Canada. Development started with the first prime minister and the actual construction was incredibly expensive and filled with controversy over bribes and exploding construction costs, causing gov turnover and bringing the federal gov into significant financial risk a few times. But they did push onward to completion and…
The cross canada rail trip is that deadly combo of exceptionally expensive and exceptionally slow.
In contrast have a look at a snapshot of air travel the other day. https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1729195110888620057?s=20 If we're looking for some low hanging fruit around how to possibly lower CO2 emissions, well folks here it is. The solutions to our climate problem have been staring us in the face since the 1900s.
Even if you completely eliminated air travel (with no replacement - which is not realistic), you'd just reduce emissions by a mere 2%. Not a trivial number given the scale, but it's far from a "solution to our climate problem". (For comparison, the larger transportation sector including cars is is 16% of emissions. Cars alone are 12%.) [1]
It also turns out to be a very hard problem to solve. We don't have the tech to build an electric airliner yet, and given how hard it's been just to get a single high-speed rail line from SF to LA I'm not betting trains are going to be in a place to practically replace aviation in the US anytime in the next few decades.
It would be cool to see an equivalent map for freight rail. These threads always focus on the lack of passenger rail service in the US but ignore that the US also has one of the largest, safest, and most efficient freight rail systems in the world[1]. I'd love to see it live! https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-r...