posted
Freight Trains are Slow ! and delay freight that needs to be delivered on time... They hold up traffic on streets everywhere, causing delays for thousands everyday, causing AMTRAK to be delayed also which costs money and time to passengers and Amtrak itself... Gosh, I wish Freight trains would just give truckers the work so it gets done right and on time...Pull up the tracks and use the space for Bike Paths or something good for this day and age... Let Amtrak keep what they need and watch passenger trains make a come back... I hope this starts a good conversation.
Posts: 1 | From: Portland,OR,USA | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yep, let's get rid of them nasty freight trains -- and the tracks with them. Then Amtrak can pay to build its own high-speed tracks, and run wherever it wants.
Yeah, right. Without the freight railroad industry, there wouldn't BE an Amtrak outside the Northeast Corridor. And maybe there shouldn't. So let's rip up the tracks, give the freight to truckers (don't you just love those big triple trailers?), and discontinue all Amtrak trains outside the NEC.
Hey, let's have some sensible discussion.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Think about it. If trucks hauled all the RR freight you wouldn't even be able to get any where near an interstate much less drive on one-EVER AGAIN!
Posts: 249 | From: Downey CA USA | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Frankly I feel that some of the responses to this topic have not been clearly thought out and have not been given serious thought and consideration. I am not an expert in the field of the railroad industry, but I do have an interest in it, and I realize and appreciate the merits of freight trains, and their importance in society and the economy. I appreciate the responses that argue that the interstates would be impossibly clogged with trucks should freight trains ever by some unfortunate miracle suddenly all disappear. That is a major downfall that would directly affect the public, but there are many others that would affect each and every one of us in severe if indirect ways. First off, prices of everything we appreciate today would skyrocket. One of the major uses of freight lines today is hauling bulk products and intermodal. Without it, interstate and international commerce would have to ship merchandise in small crates by trucks instead of in large containers that can easily be transferred from ships to trains to trucks. This would drive up the cost of everything we use drastically. The prices of everything you see on the shelf of your favorite department store would be unbelievable. Also, the cost of electricity would be outrageous. A major portion of the coal our plants utilize goes directly from the mines to the plants, with few exceptions, in steel hopper cars behind diesel locomotives. Each of these cars has the capacity of three standard dump trailers. If you have a 100 car coal drag, that amounts to three hundred trucks. A freight train requires two people to operate, a truck requires one. That would mean two people that the coal operators and the energy company would have to pay for, as opposed to 300. A 100 car coal train would require probably two or three modern day diesel locomotives, depending on the terrain it must travel through. These are equipped with two prime movers apiece, each with sixteen cylinders. Thats either 64 or 96 cylinders. A truck has either six or eight. Thats anywhere from 1800 to 2400 cylinders to haul the same amount of coal that 64 or 96 could haul. That much more pollution in the air, and that much more fuel to be burned, that the oil companies charge to the truckers, who pass the cost on to the mines and energy companies, who pass the cost on to you, the consumer. Plus, railroads pay to maintain their own track. The money to maintain the highways that the trucks do such a good job of tearing up is paid for by your tax dollars. I will not even address the chemical industry, for I don't know that much about it. But think about how much you'd rather have a tank car full of sulfuric acid coasting safely down the rails in a remore part of the county instead of riding beside of you on the interstate at 80 mph just waiting to have a nail bust one of its tires and send 10,000 gallons of that wonderful stuff onto you and your car, or into your house. I will admit that in the past railroads made mistakes and on-time performance suffered because of this. But they are doing a great job now, the business is booming, and the future is bright for efficient service at a low cost that truckers couldn't touch. Stop and think when that train holds you up two or three minutes on the way to work about just how much money that train is saving you.
Posts: 2 | From: Monongah, West Virginia, USA | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Keith, I have spent my entire career in railroad marketing, formation, and sales, along with a good bit of industrial traffic management at the same time and am not quite as optimistic as you are about the future of the railroad industry. Unless there is a return to the type of service once offered a half century and more ago, the railroads will soon be reduced to hauling only coal, at which point they will cease to be viable emterprises. This will accelerate the already rapid trend away from coal as a source of electrical power. Freight railroads are gone or virtually irrelevant in much of the world already. I certainly don't wish this, but unless both labor and management wake up and change their attitudes it will happen.
Posts: 23 | From: Florida | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hello all, this is my first post to this forum. I must say that I read this topic with great alarm, but know where you're coming from. In my brief time with CSX, I've had old heads tell me how the company has "pissed all the business away" and it really shows here in Tampa. Now they whip out this remote control stuff on us, which can only switch a fraction of the cars a full three-man yard crew can do. The company wants us to beat our feet on the ballast all our life (out in the weather no less), while they claim to be 'saving' by cutting the engineer's job.
I can name many things wrong with our country today, but won't into detail now. All I can say is that banishing freight trains amounts to utter blasphemy and a betrayal of our nation's well-being and economy. Hmmm, economy...now that's a word which would disappear if we turned our freight traffic over to those ƒ&*$#@% trucks.
posted
Oh that is the lamest post I've read in a long time. No trains = more trucks on road = more accidents from lame intermodal company drivers-one damn jerk off nearly ran his trailer into my loaded schoolbus on the 710 frwy! Plus you couldn't get your car on the road with all those trucks blocking traffic. And them causing Amtrak to be late, well hell Amtrak dont even OWN the rails! xcept for the corridor...I'm glad the freight lines let Amtrak run on their rails. I look forward to sitting at the crossing for a big beautiful train pulled by a set of Dash 9s and SD75s a mile long rail running beast! They keep those stupid smelly trucks and the BAD truck drivers off the road!
[This message has been edited by Buslady (edited 08-14-2002).]
posted
Masair is full of crap, Trucking is only good for short distances, includeing getting some freight in and out of rail yards. But for long distances Trains are better. I would hate to drive onto the freeway with my nice car but not be able to take advantage of its speediness because of dam trucks in the way. I saw a UP livestock train with 2 C44-9W's fly by me yesterday rolling at around 60mph, And you call that slow? I also have a apartment in bellingham WA with the BNSF line just down the cliff from my apartment which is milepost 95.2. I saw a long UP container train with 2 C44-9W's and a SD75. I raced it from Davis CA to fairfield CA, I drove around 70mph down the freeway and guess what? The train Beat me to fairfield. As soon as I got to the crossing the front units were just going by.
So freight trains are not slow, except for a few areas with speed restrictions, or entering or leaving rail yards.
posted
not that i'm a company man, but if you're reading this, thank those slow freight trains. while i'm at work, blocking your way to work, i'm hauling coal your electricity, your car, your computer, bricks for your house,etc.,etc., just the shear thought of doing away with freight trains shows the ignorance of the public, by being delayed 2 or 3 minutes at a crossing we should do away with an industry that employs well over 1 million, and in some way shape or form handles about everything you use. i pay enough for things now- put it all on trucks-it might be there faster, but how much $?
Posts: 85 | From: owingsmills, md. | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Even though they are slow and often slow down the fast passenger trains, just remeber that freight trains pay the bills! Why else would Amtrak haul so much of it on its passenger trains? Because it makes money.
Posts: 11 | From: Pittsburgh,PA,USA | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
people are in such a hurry anymore to get nowhere. they pass u while driving and u can wave to them right next to you at the next red light. Freight trains are a lot faster than trucks. If you put more trucks on the road imagine what rush hour would be like. Its bad enough now. If amtrak passengers are in such a hurry let them buy a car and drive everywhere. Amtrak almost folded up last month anyway.
Posts: 19 | From: tamaqua,pa,us | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
instead of being so critical on amtrak, lets face it- they perform a service the freight railroads dont want- lets give them the money to make the improvements they need. imagine then what rush-hour might be like if more people took the train. freight companies need to look more at the physical plant and less at what the stockholders are saying. if more was put into the tracks,signals, etc., we could run more trains, separate grade crossings and really show them truckers. we'll never beat them but we can give 'em a run for their money!
posted
thats the whole problem- no one cares. there's no reason why the most developed country in the world has some of worst transportation. yeah, we move frieght ok but passenger service is worse here than some of the poorest third world countries. i can't help the fact that i'm a spoiled american, i want the most for my taxes, and since we know amtrak ain't ever gonna be profitable, lets use the tax money wisely and make it a class act- above all else- keep it going.
Posts: 85 | From: owingsmills, md. | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
It is always a treat of immeasurable pleasure to wait for a train to cross the street or highway....the longer the better. I will stop in a driveway or on the road to watch a passing train when I'm on the highway. Our local RR made it's last run in 1984 and I still miss it bad. I took it for granted, and I thought the train would always be here. I always visit the switchyard to watch when I'm in a bigger city. Posts: 1 | From: Wisner, NE, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
