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1) as others have adequately pointed out, trucks are a random access transportation system. not so Rail. So how to make the two competitive and still preserve their niches? the two systems are complimentry, as JunctionFan points out; having them as competitiors doesn't serve the public interest. Regulations or govenment takeover isn't going to work; witness the mess Amtrak is perpetually in. (when I try to ride Amtrak, I spend more time on BUSSES in the very traffic I'm trying to avoid than I do on trains, fer crissake!) (Note: a Bus, to me, is a slow, ugly airliner with a lower demographic and no wings. I hate'm!) I would remind everyone that trucking has a low entry cost to the industry. (a modern tractor and 53' van can be bought new for less than the cost of a house out here in the Bay Area) A truck can be driven with relatively little additional training by a non-union employee, who can also do most of the routine checks and maint. Heavy maintenance can be performed by the lowest bidder at a place convienient to both parties. this makes for heathy competition between trucking companies. I personally can't see how to bring that competition to pass between railroads. . . and when you add in the adversarial relationship RR managment and Labor usually have, it's a miracle any railroad survived the Standard Oil- GM collusion back in the early 40's. 2) the interstate highway system is mandated to be maintained to a certain level of readiness by old cold-war legislation from the Eisenhower era. . . the interstates were to be reserve airfields when ww3 kicked off. (the swiss or the swedes <forget which> use their highways as military airfields on a semi-regular basis. . . ) so the problem has to be attacked from multiple directions. JunctionFan has part of the answer- rather than a punitive tax on an industry our entire economy currently rests on, offer simple, direct incentives to ship by rail instead.. . . and don't muddle up the incentives with loopholes and exception clauses. While we're at it, lets examine some of the reasons our government does things, and decide if those things still need to be done, and for what reasons. . . . maybe railroads or waterways have more strategic importance now? Then let's make rail travel attractive again- make it fast, clean and convienient; make it the priority it was in the middle of the last century, instead of the bothersome scheduling problem it's seen as now. This probably means a subsidy paid for performance. . . give $xx.xx per amtrak train-mile that gets though with no delays and a mandated ride quality; but only basic freight trackage fees for a delayed and/ or bumpy trip. Schedule the cross country trains to arrive at times useful to travelers, and arrange for some trains, at least, to pass through the scenic wonders of this continent during the day. . . I'd travel by rail more if I could see the sights! going though the Siskious and the Cascades at night is no better than flying over them by day. I took a 2 day rail trip through Mexico almost 20 years ago as part of a summer spent exploring my roots; my fondest memories of the whole period are the sights and experiences of those two days. And the trains ran on time! Eventually, things will (hopefully) improve to the point where a private venture will start up to compete with Amtrak . . . sort of a FedEx vs the post-office scenario?)and competition will improve the breed, as it always has before. (sometimes it's not pretty; look at what's happened / is happening to the airline industry. . .) Rail travel can compete with southwest airlines, given a fair shake by the railroads. Then figure out a way for Labor and Management to play trains in a civil manner. . .which may take an act of God to accomplish. maybe part of the answer is requiring managment to spend part of each year in the trenches, dealing with locomotives that won't load because they haven't been maintained (or the engineers who're hot because of same), having to call a taxi from southeast nowhere, wrestling stubborn couplers in the rain and being shouted at by someone who has forgotten that railroading is WORK ought to do wonders for their viewpoint at the GUT level where decisions really get made. Then let the gang with with the callused hands try playing accountant with rising fuel costs and a price war on with the truckers, or maybe muddling their way through the latest federal regulations or consumer lawsuit-- remind them that THINKING is work, too! I think both sides would come away with a new respect for the other. but I think the final solution is to simplify: to ship x tons y distance in z time by w method costs $V.VV, which can be looked up on a chart by anyone with functional eyes. Such a chart could be computer generated on a weekly basis and would include all costs from all the carriers involved, (inc. local trucking) direct or indirect, including wear and tear on <all> the infrastructure, this week's fuel prices, a reasonable profit to be shared by everyone who moves the freight, and includes damage and performance insurance. Works for Fed Ex and UPS, both of which are wizards at leveraging the entire logistical system . . . from a guy in a uniform and a stepvan to container on a ship out of Oakland. And as someone (440cuin?) pointed out, there's a cultural component, too. . . As long as we as a people remain wedded to high-horsepower, individual transportation and instant gratification while living in our identical crackerbox houses on postage-stamp lots and watching the same televised moronic pap put out by conglomerates that rival the population and economy of small european nations, things are going to proceed down the same worsening road they are now. The real problem with overcrowded highways? UNDER-populated CARS and SUVs. Go on, count'em A semi occupies about the same road area as 2, maybe 3, properly driven cars at highway speeds. . . and there are a lot more than 3 times the number of single-occupant private vehicles as trucks on any of the routes I travel. A loaded modern semi can achieve 7-8 MPG or better at speed. . . 3 average cars use about the same *total* amount of pertrochemicals to move only 3 200 lb people. that's not a favorable load factor, or a efficient use of time. . . so, as one of my profs used to say: "when you go pointing your finger, remember, most of your fingers are pointing right back at you."
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