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You want High Speed? Go back to 1935.
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Ahem... <br /> <br />I have to humbly bow and scrap at the table of knowledge and beg pardon... <br /> <br />Truckers dont see 500 miles in 8 hours. 500 miles is a long day in some areas of the nation. One time I had a perfect DOT legal 500 mile run from NH to Md in 10 hours on I-95 traffic that was flawless that day. And this was in the days of 55 mph. <br /> <br />Out west many trains of double stacks race east out of the west coast and every one of those boxes would have been a long distance trucking haul just 12 years ago. <br /> <br />If you need to cover 500+_ miles in 8 hours you need a MPH Average of 62.5 <br /> <br />Since most fleet trucks are "Casterated" by the companies who have self insured policies between 61-70 mph it is basically impossible to get 62.5 mph average. <br /> <br />I think that railroads will have to seriously beef up the speed and the variety of cargoes as well as offer MANY smaller intermodal yards CLOSER to the shippers and recievers to have any chance against the trucker. <br /> <br />I have decided that in the light of the deteroriating employment numbers that increases the shortage of drivers in the next ten years as people flee the harsh life of driving. They are told that they will make 45,000 first year. But after spending money in the truckstops etc... for food, showers and basically everything they do to get the job done on the road they might clear 10,000 <br /> <br />In short, I see the death of Long Haul Trucking except in very specialized Produce, Customs Expedited, Air Cargo, FEd ex etc.. driven by teams who can roll 24/7 <br /> <br />It is very difficult for a railroad to beat a Team truck. They can leave Baltimore midnight and be past Little Rock into Oklahoma by 24 hours. <br /> <br />Try getting a set of cargo trains out of Baltimore thru the choked rights of way, yards, slow orders and just plain too many rules causing alot of people to work on this one trip. <br /> <br />Until you can get high speed between Baltimore and Little Rock rail scenario versus a team truck and ship 200 cargo containers faster than that team truck then you might start to see things happening along HSR Freight. <br /> <br />Railroads are going to have to add equiptment, trackage and come up with innovative ways of stuffing more trains down the 500+ mile "Pipe" faster and with better costs to the customers who pay the lowest money to move the cargo.
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