3/gallon gas comming soon

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

There are many points here and no perfect solution. I agree and disagree with many. You have a point about trains, they haul more at less cost using less fuel, but they still have to use refrigeration cars to keep items from spoiling. Trains also have to share common tracks that are few in number and...

I'm not quite sure what point or points you are trying to make. Trains can transport goods on a fraction of the fuel that trucks use. I'm not sure what was the utility of bringing up refrigeration for perishable goods, since they both need it, and fuel consumption due to that is a small fraction of the fuel used for the actual transport. Arguably, trains would be in a position to run the refrigeration more efficiently.

The existing rails are severely *underutilized*, in case you haven't noticed, and already run to every major, and a good portion of minor, cities in the United States. Mainly, we'd need to build more trains.

At any rate, even if the infrastructure *were* a major problem, it still wouldn't make sense to continue subsidizing the horrendously inefficient trucking industry. It's an ongoing money pit and an ongoing fuel pit. Any money spent toward shifting away from that and back to the remarkably efficient rail system would be an excellent investment. It would be really hard to make a good argument otherwise, though I'm certain that the trucking industry would give it a try. Their best bet there would probably be some high profile disinformation campaign.

-Steve