Fuel always a concern for the railways..

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy

What was the name of the thread? Thanks.

Go to the "Search the forums..." box at the top of the page and look for diesel fuel, diesel taxes, etc.

You're welcome!

[Anonymous]

What was the name of the thread? Thanks.

[kevarc]

No, they do not pay the same as truckers. I think we had a thread on this not to long ago, so you may want to look around for it.

They use off-road diesel and do not have to pay all the taxes a trucker would. They also use a lower grade of diesel, higher sulphur content, which casts less also.

They have always had pushes for fuel consumption on the RR's. I remenber reading articles and stories from the steamer days (On Time Tyner - a series from the 70's (?) that was covered in Trains Mag) of them running steam to heat the fuel oil in the tender to show a lower fuel consumption.

[Anonymous]

As we all know fuel is an enormous expense for the railways, and I was just wondering what kind of taxes railways pay on their diesel fuel?

Are they paying the exact same taxes on fuel that truckers pay?

Here's a thought.... since railways pay for 100% of their own infrastructure, and trucks get a free ride, why don't the US and Canadian governments offer tax breaks on fuel to the railways....

It seems like it would at least make things a little bit more fair between trucks and trains, and offer the railways a large savings in diesel prices...

Even if the governments would only offer savings of 10 - 20 cents a gallon, that would still leave the railways with a pile of ca***hat they could put towards infrastructure....

If the government isn't going to help the railways directly with their infrastructure, why not at least subsidise them indirectly through a fuel discount...

Surely the railways would have a pretty good argument.

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