FOR U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE | FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | FOR THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
FREIGHT RAIL DELIVERS – FOR U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE
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Moving goods by rail is smart for America! And good for the overall highway system, because rail is three times as energy efficient as trucks — AND three times cleaner. Shipping by rail reduces highway congestion, pollution and saves energy. And don’t forget that because truck fatality rates are four times higher than train fatality rates, moving more freight by rail will also save lives. A single train can mean 280 fewer trucks on the road, freeing up highways for residents and commuters. During 2006, railroads removed more than 12 million trucks from the highways —and they do it efficiently! On a single gallon of fuel, a train can move one ton of freight 423 miles! |
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The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has stated that “Relatively small public investments in the nation’s freight railroads can be leveraged into relatively large benefits for the nation’s highway infrastructure, highway users and freight shippers.” Freight rail capacity expansion makes good economic sense; it costs $1 to $3 million dollars per mile to add capacity to rail as opposed to $10 million or more per mile to add a lane to urban highways.
Expansion of America’s rail capacity takes investment of both time and money. One way to fund this expansion is through tax credits for freight railroads. Bi-partisan legislation to provide a 25 percent tax credit for rail infrastructure expansion has been introduced in Congress, and is good public policy for many reasons.
Moving more freight by rail saves taxpayers money. Proposed legislation extends tax credits only for projects that are true rail capacity expansion such as adding track, upgrading signal systems, building new intermodal facilities and adding locomotives. And these tax credits won’t just apply to railroads, but to any company that invests in expanding rail capacity, including trucking companies investing in intermodal facilities, or ports investing in infrastructure to connect their facilities with rail customers.
Logistics experts agree that freight railroads can and should play a bigger role in responding to increased demand for transportation services.
FREIGHT RAIL DELIVERS – FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Of all modes of surface transportation, freight railroads are the most environmentally friendly.
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Trains are three times as fuel efficient and three times cleaner than trucks. A single train can move a ton of freight an average of 423 miles on ONE gallon of diesel fuel. Freight trains have increased their fuel efficiency by 80 percent over the past 25 years. Because of a freight train’s greater fuel efficiency, shifting just 10 percent of long-haul freight from truck to rail would reduce fuel consumption by more than 1 billion gallons a year. |
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Railroads, working with the Environmental Protection Agency and locomotive manufacturers, hope to soon have a new generation of locomotives that will reduce emissions of particulate matter by 90 percent and nitrogen oxide by 80 percent. Many railroads are already using innovative hybrid and “gen-set” locomotives with reduced emissions, especially in rail yards.
Did you know that railroads move about 60 percent of ethanol used to produce cleaner-burning fuel and reduce our dependence on imported petroleum? And a single rail intermodal train can remove 280 trucks from the highways, easing pollution, saving energy and reducing highway congestion all at the same time.
Be a part of the solution! Talk to your community leaders and policy makers about the environmental benefits of rail transportation, and ask them to support freight rail capacity expansion though tax incentives and the promotion of private-public partnerships.
FREIGHT RAIL DELIVERS – FOR THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
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Freight railroads save American businesses and consumers billions of dollars. Just about everything American consumers need —be it clothes, food, computers, automobiles or coal to generate electricity — is shipped by train. In 2005, U.S. freight railroads: Hauled enough coal to supply electricity to every home in America. Hauled the wheat to make more than 400 loaves of bread for every man, woman and child in America, and enough corn to feed 28 billion chickens or 287 million hogs for their lifetimes, or more than 27 million dairy cows for a year. |
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Carrried the newsprint to print 11.4 billion newspapers.
Transported the fertilizer to spread 203 pounds of it on every acre of corn, wheat and soybeans planted in the United States.
Hauled enough lumber to build approximately 1.1 million average-sized houses.
Since railroad deregulation twenty-five years ago, the cost of shipping goods by rail has dropped significantly, saving consumers billions of dollars. Rail coal rates have declined by 32 percent since 1981 – even before accounting for inflation, and without this lower cost, electric rates would have increased even higher than the 38 percent they did climb over this same period.
In addition, millions of jobs in the auto, steel, construction, chemical and agricultural industries depend on safe, efficient, low-cost rail delivery of both raw materials and finished products.
And freight railroads employ more than 180,000 people with a payroll of more than $12 billion. And pay some $3 billion in income, property and other taxes.
These are just a few of the facts that make America’s freight railroads a smart choice for shipping American goods.
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