A solution to high way overcrowding

[Anonymous]

if the terrorists use trucks to get in the US from mexico then BAM!!!! more trains because trucks will instantly be outlawed by the goverment... well thats my thought anyways....

[Anonymous]

Here in Oklahoma I have been talking and sending letters to politicians saying to them just how importatant rail travel can be. But sadly most of the public and political leaders don't know what a train is other than it can be a big slow moving monster. If rail travel should ever come back from the brink of destruction education of this vitale transportation should be made known. It is sad for me to see everybody complaining over high gas prices but know one has done anything about it.

[TH&B]

Leveling the playing feild is realy the only way to go. But people will complain when they suddenly get charged for what has been free or cheap even though someone else has been paying for it. We live in a distorted economy right now that makes ceratain wastefull practises make sense, but the next generations will pay that mistake. Trucks are very efficient and nessesary but they don't have to be so big and poorly designed and opperated from a safety point of veiw. Also some traffic that is shipped by truck should be more efficient by rail exept that our rail system isn't always as efficient and flexable as it should be.

Also government money should be used to remove level crossings in more busy areas and multipul underutilized parallel routes should be consolidated, this benifets everyone ((exept railfans)). People in cities should not need to waite for long slow trains at crossings and trucks should not dominate our public roads and hiways. Our seaways, canals, great lakes and coastlines should also be taken into account and bigger is not always better every time.

I'm interested in specializing in the rail freight.

Well anyways that's my 2 or 3 cents or more.

[mudchicken]

Having to drive back from central Illinois to Denver last week, had to listen to the two AM radio "All Night" trucking programs. Both were full of whining by the truckers about the federal and state level politicians about to start charging along interstates for tolls for commercial use. The whining by truckers having to pay fees commeasurate with the amount of damage they cause was nothing short of a near riot......I was grinning all the way across Nebraska! AH Reality - What a concept![:D][:D][:D]

Evil Feathers

[Randy Stahl]

We need a NY times expose' on the daily slaughter of motorists on the PUBLIC highways to incite people to take action, note I said Public highways NOT commertial highways!!!!!!!
Randy

[rrnut282]

Don't hold your breath waiting for this to happen. Your average Joe doesn't see any benefit in having more tracks available (it's just another rough spot in the road I own, I might get stopped by a train, and I don't want to wait, etc) and will howl when his tax money is spent for something he doesn't benefit from. To take enough trucks off of the road for this scheme to work, it will take more service lanes and faster travel times and more interconnections to duplicate the trucking network. Don't get me started on the NIMBY's that will come crawling out of the woodwork if you try to run a train on a track that has laid dormant for 30 years....

Don't get me wrong, It would be nice, but impractical at this point.

[jchnhtfd]

There are a number of ways that trucking firms and railroads can work together to do this -- using the flexibility of the truck for delivery and the efficiency (and potential speed) of the train for the longer haul -- Junctionfan has it about right.

However... that would suppose that somehow trucks (and automobiles) and trains operated on an even economic footing. I think my views on State DOTs in this regard are pretty well known around here... and they aren't complementary. The highway industry (automotive and truck manufacturers, construction firms, and entrenched bureaucracies) have a pretty firm hammerlock on the public purse -- while railroads, at least in the USA, are treated at all levels as cash cows to be taxed to death. A while back CSX wanted to upgrade the line on the west side of the Hudson River for better service to New York -- but was faced with the reality that if you improve your property, your taxes will go up (anybody know what finally happened there? I lost track, somehow).

It will take a major change in the political climate to even the playing field -- but it has to happen sometime.

[Junctionfan]

I believe that every town or at least county should have a distribution center where train loads can be unloaded and trucks can ship the product who can't afford or can't access a rail spur. This eliminates the trucks polluting time on the highway without putting the truck driver out of work.

[Anonymous]

Ya.......Raise gas prices up to $5 to ten dollars a gallon for a year.
BNSFrailfan.

[DSchmitt]

Trucks can provide door to door service.

Just because two or more trucks appear to be traveling together doesn't mean their origin and destination are the same (although admittedly they could be).

Trucks can provide faster service, they don't have to wait around to be made up into trains. (often many times before delivery). Trucks can take shorter routes and travel at higher average speeds.

There are many places trains don't go to. Most of them places trains never went to even at their peak development.

[MP57313]

Would like to see it, but I believe the trucking & highway industry still has more connections and clout in getting funds allocated...

[Anonymous]

Hers a great idea to solve the problem to highway overcrowding. Thers a lot of old road beds out there, and to get more turcks off th road, use governmemt money to rebuild them into railroads. Plain and simple.Les polution and congestion, and more cargo moved. Because the trucking industry has had it good to long. Railroads built America, not trucks.It makes me upset when I see 2 or more semis puiling the same trailers with the same logos going crose country. That means more poultion, and more trucks on the road. One 86'foot boxcar can take at least 3 trailers. Wish rail trafic incresing, we need to have more rail lines. For those towns who let rail service go infavor of trucks, too bad, because your not conected with the world.