Can Freight Rail Be The Green Freight Transportation Solution?

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Comment by Mike Johnston on August 10, 2009 at 9:14am

I agree that trucks will always play an integral role in the way you describe distributing freight from train hubs to local warehouses, manufacturers and retail operations much in the way FedEx operates.

Comment by Jose on August 8, 2009 at 1:01am

Really people want to Intermodal transportation system, we also seen in freight spain Agl-logistics has good job in trasportation. thanks for discussion about this valuable topick.

Comment by Joseph Sadlier on July 21, 2009 at 11:21am

Some vehicles and small trucks already do use that technology. We just need to fit it for larger capacity. AS ABOVE: the rail is more efficient for the long hauls NY to LA., ect... The semi-trailer and box van will never be replaced by rail for short hauls or small quantities. What is needed is a combination of both with a efficient fuel system to reduce costs. We need some better mouse traps!!

Comment by Mike Johnston on June 26, 2009 at 7:23am

Hi DC. Perhaps solar panels could run the temperature control unit on refrigerated or heated cars. Interesting idea :-)

Comment by D.C. Palmer on June 26, 2009 at 7:14am

This is an interesting line of discussion. Imagine a box car where the roof of the car is PV panels and it has a small electric motor to help drive it. I doubt that the PV panels would generate enough power to get rid of the locomotve, but it might be enough to improve the milage once the whole train is moving. It all comes down to cost efficiency calculations with several knowable factors, that I do not happen to know. I would speculate that this will become practical within the next ten years. It is only a guess.

Comment by Mike Johnston on June 22, 2009 at 7:33pm

Yes the rail industry has gotten a bad reputation in some ways but there is nothing that couldn't be fixed. I was talking mostly about intermodal trains that carry loaded truck trailers. Some of the issues could be solved by equipping each truck trailer with GPS and other sensors (temp,etc) and having it all monitored by a central control and so if any car got hooked to the wrong train they would know right away. UPS and FedEx both use this kind of model and do a good job of distributing a great deal of freight on time (for the most part).

As far as the mileage they claim goes, I think they get it by figuring the fuel consumed per mile against the total weight of the train which might average around 8,000 tons, Then figure how much fuel is consumed per ton.

So that is 16,000,000 lbs and if you get .13 mpg then you can pull that much weight one mile on 8 gallons of fuel. That is probably with one engine and our train would probably have 2 engines which means we would be burning 16 gallons of fuel per mile. That being the case we divide 16 gpm by 8,000 tons and find it takes .002 gallons of fuel to pull one ton of the train one mile. If we multiply that by 495 we get one gallon of fuel used to pull one ton of freight 495 miles...

Comment by Joseph Sadlier on June 16, 2009 at 9:55am

Yes you are right, rail can move good very efficienty, but we have let the infrastructure fall into great disrepair. Many of the hubs and lines available as reciently as 20 years ago are now closed. We would need a significant expendature to make the rails a big player in the transportation business. This would have been a great place to spend the stimulus money. Not only would it of made the US more energy independant, it would have created long term solutions and consistant job growth. Instead we have jobs studing "Swine Odor" and expanding airports that are only used by a few citizens, and one important congressman. As presented the stimulus package gives hundreds of projects funding without creating any medium or long term benefits (ie.. jobs or energy efficiency). WAKE UP!, MR PRESIDENT, CONGRESS AND THE SENATE. Spending for spending sake is foolish.

If we want to reduce energy use spend money by improving the rail system w/ high speed commuter trains, and efficient rail service for goods transportation. Or at least by building hydro-electric dams, wind turbines, and alternative fuel generators.

We can no longer wait to hope somebody will do something to help the economy. Every American needs to call or write our congressmen, senators, and the president and tell them to STOP SPENDING MONEY ON PORK AND/OR PET ISSUES and STOP TALKING A GOOD GAME. An energy policy first will fix much of what we elected them to do "It's the economy stupid".