Some numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics latest report

[Anonymous]

The report is available online at:

http://www.bts.gov/publications/freight_shipments_in_america/

Some interesting tidbits:

Ton mile share of commercial freight activity 1993 - 2002

1993
Rail - 26.5%
Truck - 25.6%
Multimodal - 4.6%

1997
Rail - 27.3%
Truck - 28.4%
Multimodal - 5.4%

2002
Rail - 27.8%
Truck - 32.1%
Multimodal - 5.0%

Other stats -

% of freight as measured by weight
Rail - 16% (1.9 billion tons)
Truck - 66% (7.8 billion tons)

% of freight as measured by value
Rail - 4% ($310 billion)
Truck - 75% ($6.2 trillion)

The next report will be out for 2007. The question is, will rail's share of commercial freight movement get out of its rut? One thing is apparent, to the degree that the relative efforts at deregulation have affected the modes, it seems trucking deregulation has had a more positive effect on trucking than Staggers has had on railroading.

Of course, trucking deregulation resulted in more competitive choice for shippers, railroad partial deregulation did not. That might explain why rairoading has not increased its share of freight movement in this country.

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal


Of course, trucking deregulation resulted in more competitive choice for shippers, railroad partial deregulation did not. That might explain why rairoading has not increased its share of freight movement in this country.

So you are saying that railroads would haul more freight right now if they were not deregulated by Staggers?

Might customers who haul freight via trucking have more choices due to the natural advantage over trains and the changing nature of the consumer economy, which allows a higher and quicker return on investment for trucking and provides for more impetus for competitors to enter the trucking market?

Gabe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal


Of course, trucking deregulation resulted in more competitive choice for shippers, railroad partial deregulation did not. That might explain why rairoading has not increased its share of freight movement in this country.

So you are saying that railroads would haul more freight right now if they were not deregulated by Staggers?

Might customers who haul freight via trucking have more choices due to the natural advantage over trains and the changing nature of the consumer economy, which allows a higher and quicker return on investment for trucking and provides for more impetus for competitors to enter the trucking market?

Gabe

Gabe, I'm not saying that railroads would be hauling more freight if Staggers hadn't been passed, because if railroads had continued in the regulated marketplace, I'm not sure they would have survived into the 21st century. I am saying that railroads would haul more freight if all prospective rail shippers had absolute access to competitive rail rates and services, something that was absent from the Staggers legislation. I will reiterate, Staggers was partial deregulation, liberating the supply side of railroading, but not the demand side. Compare that with trucking deregulation, which resulted in liberation of both supply and demand.

I also don't buy the argument that trucking has a natural (or did you mean net ?) advantage over railroads. What railroads lack in door to door access is more than made up in efficiency, especially with intermodalism. Since the BTS report is about tonnage as well as value of commodity movements, modal efficiencies would play a major part in determining how commodities "choose" to move. If you look at the numbers, intermodalism has also been stagnant, staying at around 5% from 1993 to 2002, when all the innovations in TOFC, bi-modal technologies, and double stacking should predict a noticable increase in intermodal's share of freight. Obviously, something is lacking.

I will agree that there is greater impetus of investment entry into trucking as compard to railroading, and this I believe is due to the de facto intent of Staggers, which was designed to allow the railroad industry to eliminate "excess" capacity until only enough remained to allow the railroads more price control. Of course, the problem that railroad managers in government apparently did not foresee is that with GDP growth over the last two decades, demand is now exceeding the supply being offered by the railroad companies, and with the conservative nature of businesses who have a certain degree of market control those capacity improvements will not take place in an expedient manner for the nation's shippers, because that incentive is just not there. "Rail banking" provisions in railroad deregulating legislation was woefully inadaquate, thus there was more incentive to scrap the "excess" capacity instead of preserving it until demand warranted.

Those rail expansion projects that are taking place now are not in pace with projected trade growth. Thus, not only have railroads engaged in defered maintenance to enhance short term ROI's, they are also engaged in defered expanion. This will only lead to trucks garnering a greater share of the commercial freight activity reported to the BTS for it's 2007 report.

Deregulate the demand side of railroading, and you will see significant gains in rail's share of commercial freight activity.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

Does the Bureau of Transportation Statistics have any numbers for the market share of various modes of transportation for intercity journeys over 100 miles?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal


% of freight as measured by weight
Rail - 16% (1.9 billion tons)
Truck - 66% (7.8 billion tons)

% of freight as measured by value
Rail - 4% ($310 billion)
Truck - 75% ($6.2 trillion)

These numbers say to me that railroads are raw materials shippers and aren’t competitive shippers of manufactured goods. Are railroads capable of creating a plan to compete as shippers of manufactured goods or are they just going to play out the string?

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by garyaiki

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal


% of freight as measured by weight
Rail - 16% (1.9 billion tons)
Truck - 66% (7.8 billion tons)

% of freight as measured by value
Rail - 4% ($310 billion)
Truck - 75% ($6.2 trillion)

These numbers say to me that railroads are raw materials shippers and aren’t competitive shippers of manufactured goods. Are railroads capable of creating a plan to compete as shippers of manufactured goods or are they just going to play out the string?

With, what is seems like, alot of lines getting near capacity and UP having to turn away some shippers, I am not sure if most railroads right now want any more business.

[Anonymous]

One other item stands out. Waterway transportation went down during the same period, at about the same rate as trucking increased. On the surface at least, this suggests that former waterway shippers turned to truck rather than rail for their transport alternative. Unusual, given that the type of commodity carried by barge (bulk, not particularly time sensitive) is more suitable for carriage by rail than truck.