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No technological replacement on the horizon is more efficient than railroads for moving heavy weight over land. Freight rail service remains essential to industrial, community, and environmental vitality. Yet, while new industrial development across North America surges, 90-95% is truck-only. We cannot continue sustainably while building out a truck-centric economy. However, we can no longer afford to pit rail and truck transportation against each other. It is time to shift to using each mode in concert rather than opposition. Rail and Trucking productivity and efficiency will improve from an integrated redesign of our transportation and industrial systems.
''There is no technological replacement on the horizon more efficient than railroads. Freight transportation efficiency is a cause for the entire continent to rally behind. –Michael Sussman, Founder and Chairman of OnTrackNorthAmerica''


The physical strength of hard steel wheels rolling on rugged steel rails enables a dime-size contact patch between the two components. The benefits of this physics deliver even more than energy, fuel, and emissions savings. Railroads' energy efficiency creates space and capital efficiencies as well. They are space efficient in that a 100-car train can carry the goods of a 27-mile convoy of three hundred tractor-trailers on the highway. The implication of this significant carrying capacity extends to the quality of life for citizens adjacent to rail lines versus roadways. While each of the three hundred trucks passes every 30 seconds for 2.5 hours, the train passes in 4 minutes, providing 2 hours and 26 minutes of quiet.  
==== Introduction ====
90% to 92% of new industry in North America is truck-served only. As industrial development across North America surges, this is unsustainable from both an environmental and an economic perspective. At the same time, freight rail service remains essential to industrial, community, and environmental vitality.


Railroads’ capital efficiency is evident in numerous factors. The track, wheels, and railcars are long-lived and require much less maintenance and replacement than trucks, tires, and road surfaces. Tire wear, another critical friction cost, is the greatest source of microplastics in the oceans and air, with 18 tires on each truck causing a large portion of that pollution.
But we can no longer afford to pit rail and truck transportation against each other. It is time to shift to using each mode in concert rather than opposition. Rail and Trucking productivity will improve from an integrated redesign of our transportation and industrial systems.


VitalRail is informed by OnTrackNorthAmerica’s Land Freight Lifecycle Impact Calculator, the world’s first side-by-side comparison of each land freight mode's long-term return on investment. After a year-long peer review, our underlying research for this tool was published on October 9th, 2024, in the “International Journal of Sustainable Transportation.” This calculator is a data-driven guide for shippers, planners, communities, and investors to assess infrastructure and logistics plans and investments properly. It is time to base infrastructure investment decisions on a sensible optimization of these fundamental principles of the earth’s physics and resources.  
==== Physical Aspects of Railroads ====
The physical strength of hard steel wheels rolling on hard steel rails enables a dime-size contact patch between the two components. The benefits of this physics deliver even more than energy, fuel, and emissions savings. Railroads' energy efficiency creates space and capital efficiencies.  


Understandably, most countries have made roads a primary target of public investment. But this has unwittingly provided trucking companies a business operating environment conducive to serving shippers of all sizes and locations without consideration of the overall return from land freight infrastructure investments. Trucking providers can relate to risk more flexibly as roads are provided for them and their customers, and road user taxes are paid on an as-you-go basis. Trucking operating costs can be further flexed to weather downtimes by reassigning or parking trucks and laying off drivers as needed.  
They are space efficient in that a 100-car train can carry the goods of a 27-mile convoy of 300 tractor-trailers on the highway. While each of the 300 trucks passes every 30 seconds for 2.5 hours, the train passes in 4 minutes, providing 2 hours and 26 minutes of quiet.


Railroads and their shippers, on the other hand, require significant coordination before using rail, including long-term investment in rail lines, sidings, and loading facilities. The solution, however, lies not in focusing on greater public funding of freight railroads but in helpful improvements to policy, plans, and incentives that the government can provide to stimulate private-sector investment.  
This also improves the quality of life for citizens adjacent to rail lines versus roadways.


After all other modal measures are compared, such as ton-miles and cargo value, the most informative data point is the stark difference in annual gross revenues between North America’s freight rail and trucking industries─$115 billion compared to $1 trillion, an 8.7 times revenue disparity despite rail’s superior energy, space, and capital efficiency. Hence, a pent-up growth opportunity exists for the rail industry, its investors, and the industries and communities served. Stakeholder collaboration in VitalRail will unleash these tremendous benefits.  
==== Economic and Environmental Aspects of Railroads ====
Railroads’ capital efficiency is evident in numerous factors. Components such as tracks, wheels, and railcars are long-lived and require much less maintenance and replacement than the trucks, their tires, and the road surfaces they use.


Demand for freight capacity will continue increasing as North America expands its efforts to re-shore manufacturing and address unstable global supply chains. With ongoing environmental issues and increasing road congestion and costs, this is an opportune time for railroads to align their business models with the urgent need for better and more sustainable supply chains. Rail transportation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%. As part of a growing rail industry, investors, infrastructure funds, shippers, and communities will provide ample capital for this growth strategy while enjoying a higher return on investment.  
Tire wear –another critical friction cost– is the greatest source of microplastics in the oceans and air, with 18 tires on each truck causing a large portion of that pollution.


Freight transportation efficiency is a cause for the entire continent to rally behind!
==== Future of Railroads ====
Demand for freight capacity continues to increase as North America expands its efforts to re-shore manufacturing and address unstable global supply chains.
 
With ongoing environmental issues –rail transportation reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%– and increasing road congestion and costs, this is an opportune time for railroads to align their business models with the urgent need for better and more sustainable supply chains.
 
As part of a growing rail industry, investors, infrastructure funds, shippers, and communities can and will provide ample capital for this growth strategy while enjoying a higher return on investment.
 
==== Tools for Planning ====
The time has come to base infrastructure investment decisions on a sensible optimization of the fundamental principles of the earth’s physics and resources.
 
VitalRail uses the [[Land Freight Lifecycle Impact Calculator]], the world’s first side-by-side comparison tool of each land freight mode's long-term return on investment. It is a data-driven guide for shippers, planners, communities, and investors to properly assess infrastructure and logistics plans and investments.
 
For more information about the background and underlying research for the Land and Freight Calculator, see the article Comparative evaluation of highways and railroads using life-cycle benefit-cost analysis published in the [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15568318.2024.2411588 International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Volume 18, 2024 - Issue 10].

Latest revision as of 21:29, 10 January 2025

There is no technological replacement on the horizon more efficient than railroads. Freight transportation efficiency is a cause for the entire continent to rally behind. –Michael Sussman, Founder and Chairman of OnTrackNorthAmerica

Introduction

90% to 92% of new industry in North America is truck-served only. As industrial development across North America surges, this is unsustainable from both an environmental and an economic perspective. At the same time, freight rail service remains essential to industrial, community, and environmental vitality.

But we can no longer afford to pit rail and truck transportation against each other. It is time to shift to using each mode in concert rather than opposition. Rail and Trucking productivity will improve from an integrated redesign of our transportation and industrial systems.

Physical Aspects of Railroads

The physical strength of hard steel wheels rolling on hard steel rails enables a dime-size contact patch between the two components. The benefits of this physics deliver even more than energy, fuel, and emissions savings. Railroads' energy efficiency creates space and capital efficiencies.

They are space efficient in that a 100-car train can carry the goods of a 27-mile convoy of 300 tractor-trailers on the highway. While each of the 300 trucks passes every 30 seconds for 2.5 hours, the train passes in 4 minutes, providing 2 hours and 26 minutes of quiet.

This also improves the quality of life for citizens adjacent to rail lines versus roadways.

Economic and Environmental Aspects of Railroads

Railroads’ capital efficiency is evident in numerous factors. Components such as tracks, wheels, and railcars are long-lived and require much less maintenance and replacement than the trucks, their tires, and the road surfaces they use.

Tire wear –another critical friction cost– is the greatest source of microplastics in the oceans and air, with 18 tires on each truck causing a large portion of that pollution.

Future of Railroads

Demand for freight capacity continues to increase as North America expands its efforts to re-shore manufacturing and address unstable global supply chains.

With ongoing environmental issues –rail transportation reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%– and increasing road congestion and costs, this is an opportune time for railroads to align their business models with the urgent need for better and more sustainable supply chains.

As part of a growing rail industry, investors, infrastructure funds, shippers, and communities can and will provide ample capital for this growth strategy while enjoying a higher return on investment.

Tools for Planning

The time has come to base infrastructure investment decisions on a sensible optimization of the fundamental principles of the earth’s physics and resources.

VitalRail uses the Land Freight Lifecycle Impact Calculator, the world’s first side-by-side comparison tool of each land freight mode's long-term return on investment. It is a data-driven guide for shippers, planners, communities, and investors to properly assess infrastructure and logistics plans and investments.

For more information about the background and underlying research for the Land and Freight Calculator, see the article Comparative evaluation of highways and railroads using life-cycle benefit-cost analysis published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Volume 18, 2024 - Issue 10.

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