Thursday, November 25, 2010

42% of freight in the USA is moved by rail - in New Zealand it's only 15%


As we compiled the previous post on Cajon Pass, those mere figures had a resonance - BNSF built a third track over Cajon Pass two years ago so that it could move 150 freight trains a day ... that's over 6 freight trains an hour without counting what Union Pacific moves over the same route. And these trains are huge, 10,000 tons is nothing unusual.

The share of intercity freight moved by rail in the USA in the early-1990s was about 35%, now it stands at 42%. In New Zealand in comparison over the same period it has fallen: a sad picture. See our previous posts about the government's extremely pro-truck stance.

Here is another photo taken from a similar position to that in the previous post (as usual, click for the full view): all those freight containers snaking around a long S curve belong to the same train!

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