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"A locomotive pulling one car is certainly nowhere near as efficient as two trucks hauling the same quantity of grain." - TomDiehl Trucks can haul between 25 tons and 33 tons of product, depending on which state's regs are the limiting factor. A modern rail hopper is going to haul from 100 to 110 tons of product. Thus it takes usually four truckloads to equal one rail hopper. Despite your unsubstantiated statement, it is not axiomatic that single carload freight is less efficient than corresponding truckloads. More to the contrary, a single engine pulling a single loaded grain hopper is still more efficient if the point of origin, distance haul, and destination are the same e.g. no intermodal transloading taking place. More than likely, the rails are running over gentle grades, while the truckers may be pulling up a 6% or 7% grade enroute. No, it is not more efficient to haul stuff by truck than by train when origin and destination are directly accessed by both modes. In the Washington State case, your argument becomes almost comical, in that the State owns both the roads and the railroad lines in question, so the maintenance/tax/etc issues become moot for the railroad. No, what it comes down to is contractual limitations which do not allow the shortline to use their own crews and their own (or the State's) cars to haul multiple carloads of grain from online elevators on the ex-BNSF trackage to willing buyers located along UP ROW. The only rail-related inefficiency here is the paper barrier imposed by BNSF. Is that what you're talking about in your statement above, Tom?
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