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[quote user="Datafever"] Some facts published by BNSF -[/quote]That should read *facts*.[^][quote]<ul><li>On average, railways are more than three times more fuel efficient than trucks.</li></ul>[/quote]On average, that's correct.  But let's not forget modal differentiation..........[quote]<ul><li>Nearly one billion gallons of fuel per year could be saved if only 10 percent of the freight that currently moves by truck were moved by rail.</li></ul>[/quote]But do the railroads really want that traffic?  <ul><li>Shorthaul distribution?  No.</li><li>Time sensitive truckload?  No.</li><li>Single load or specialty load OTR traffic?  No.</li><li>Point to point traffic where roads exist but rails do not parallel?  No.</li><li>Bi-modal synchronicity with barge carriers?  No.</li></ul>Bottom line:  I don't believe there is 10% of any type of truck traffic that the railroads can move better, other than as TOFC/COFC/bi-modal.  And the railroads seem fairly cool to the idea of more domestic intermodal service offerings.[quote]<ul><li>Freight railway fuel efficiency has risen 74 percent since 1980.</li><li>In 2004, a gallon of diesel fuel carried a ton of freight nearly 410 miles on the U.S. freight railways. </li></ul>[/quote]Both true, but remember the kicker - that's mostly due to the loss of shortline, branchline, and intermediate terminalization.  The resulting loss in certain types of hauls has defaulted to either truckload or shutdown.  The carload branchline service getting that measley 150 ton/miles per gallon may likely have shifted to trucks getting 60 ton/miles per gallon.  Thus, in many of the cases the overall supply chain fuel efficiency numbers have dropped rather than improved.BTW - I'm not picking on railroads, just their current modus operandi.  I'd personally like to see greater competitive capacity added to the US rail network, and let third party transporters try their hand at those niche markets that have defaulted to OTR truckers.  But, some get kinda testy when I bring that up.......
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