• HobbitFoot
    link
    fedilink
    English
    32 months ago

    The solution is to make freight rail companies run on timetables again with shorter trains.

    • Flying Squid
      link
      fedilink
      12 months ago

      Would shorter trains be able to make up for the lack of cargo in trucks?

      • HobbitFoot
        link
        fedilink
        English
        42 months ago

        You need to run more trains, but a schedule will make it easier to hire qualified people to do so.

        A lot of what has made current freight rail shitty in the USA is that a lot of freight rail companies seem hyper fixated on only the most profitable routes at the exclusion of everything else. This has caused freight rail companies to adopt some really terrible labor practices, which has led to labor shortages.

        • Flying Squid
          link
          fedilink
          12 months ago

          But how many trains is more trains? Because you’re talking about enough trains to make up for the loss of thousands upon thousands of trucks from the road. That sounds a hell of a lot more than, say, one train an hour. In fact, it sounds like people would be held up at crossings constantly.

          • HobbitFoot
            link
            fedilink
            English
            22 months ago

            One train per hour would be on the very high side. It would likely be a lot less.

            • Flying Squid
              link
              fedilink
              12 months ago

              Why would it be a lot less? I just looked it up and there are 13.86 million trucks on the road in the US. How many cars would a train need to make up for that in a once-per-hour schedule over a 24-hour period?