Global Trade, Fuel Costs Add Up To Expansion for Once-Dying Industry
Video
Railroads Raise the Roof
Staff Writer Frank Ahrens talks with Norfolk Southern engineer Bob Billingsley about expanding a Norfolk Southern tunnel in southwest Virginia to make way for double-stacked railcar containers. The railroad industry is enjoying a building boom as soaring diesel prices and a changing global market drive freight back to the rails...
...In the 1970s, tight federal regulation, cheap truck fuel and a wide-open interstate highway system conspired to cripple the railroad industry, driving many lines into bankruptcy....
...A train can haul a ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel, about a 3-to-1 fuel efficiency advantage over 18-wheelers, and the railroad industry is increasingly touting itself as an eco-friendly alternative. Trucking firms also use the rail lines; UPS is the railroad industry's biggest customer...
Hmmmmm, a little econ history, please:
in approximately 1900. Nine out of the twenty-two fortunes were railroad fortunes:
Update 3:42 PM 4/22/2008 Looks like the "gilded age" or robber baron history is being blogged over at TomDispatch also
No comments:
Post a Comment