mathgeek

Railroad Companies: Good, Better, Best

Nice article.

A couple minor points:

- The long term battle between trucks and train has gone something like this: Trucks are faster and more reliable, Trains (or intermodal services) are cheaper, particularly for longer hauls. (>500 miles). Over time, train service speed and reliability has improved, displacing trucks. This can be expected to continue.

- As one poster correctly points out both BNI and UNP have excellent access to PRB coal. I don't belive there is a true advantage of one over another, but the advantage over the eastern rails is real.

- For those who are asking about passenger rail... keep dreaming, the economics just doesn't work very well, except for shortish trips between congested urban centers (e.g. the NE corridor) where time "to and through" the airport makes up the majority of the travel time. Think about it this way: People's time is valuable; it makes more sense to move people by the fastest means possible (e.g. airplanes) while letting lower value stuff move by slower means such as trains.