Drivin' a truck with my high heels on....

[captpackrat]

I don't understand why so many companies transport goods by truck. Wouldn't it be cheaper to ship freight by train? Especially for long-haul? Why pay a truck driver to pull a load across the country when you could just load a cargo container onto a train? A single train, with just a few engineers, can pull thousands of trucks worth of goods, trucks which would require thousands of drivers, spew tons of pollution into the atmosphere, and take up space on the already conjested highways.

Is it a conspiracy by the oil companies? Is it because America is so car-centric? Has the American rail system deteriorated that badly?

Comments

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

Two reasons, really:

1. Trucks can go door to door to small locations. Trains can only go door to door between locations that are substantial enough to build a siding.

2. Train tracks are constructed and maintained by private companies, who have to build the cost of the tracks into their prices. Trucks run on roads that are constructed and maintained using tax dollars, so the trucking companies essentially get a free ride on their right of way, and most states don't tax trucking companies enough to make up for this.