Why is Europe so absurdly backward compared to the U.S. in rail freight transport

Freight Waves ^ | 10/5/2019 | Vishnu Rajamanickam

[Gamecock]

But unlike the way the U.S. leverages its extensive railroad network to move freight, Europe does no such thing, with its freight rail system lagging behind the U.S. by several decades.

A different perspective on the state of American railroads.

[struggle]

The freight has been blowing through my NC town recently. We’re talking 100+ car trains with engines mid-line to pull and push the load. Truly a sight to see.

[mewzilla]

Meanwhile, US passenger rail service SUCKS.

Mr. President, when you get a mo, would you freaking DELIVER US FROM AMTRAK?!?

Pretty please? 😄

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

“As railroads are privatized in the U.S., we have constantly moved towards heavier axle loads over the last four decades.”

Funny thing is, railways in the UK are also privately owned unlike many of their continental counterparts yet they are shoddy compared to them and back when British Rail was a government monopoly. I’d love to know why privatisation seems to work in the US yet has made things much worse in the UK.

[SamAdams76]

There are an immense amount of freight trains running through America. I've seen some that are literally miles long.

Many citizens have never seen a freight train but there are thousands of freight cars in motion at any given time in this nation.

[samtheman]

Because euroweenies are euroweenies?

Haven’t read the article yet. This is my pre-read guess.

[NorthMountain]

Europe: Rail == Passenger service.

USA: Rail == Freight.

Question: Who owns the rails? In USA, the answer for the most part is “some freight company”. CSX, BNSF etc. How about Europe?

[piasa]

Privatization doesn’t mean the government doesn’t impose regulations. There are probably more regulations than over here. And the smaller area serviced is likely a limiting factor.

[nwrep]

No, in Europe, trains are designed around passenger use, while here, they are primarily for moving goods.

[bigdaddy45]

They sure have us beat in passenger rail service though. I just spent the past week in Europe traveling extensively via railroads. It’s fantastic. Wish we had it here

[Psalm 73]

Have known this for years - we move freight, they move people.

Another reason our economy kicks butt - people will find a way to get to work (we're fiercely independent), but factories must have steady inputs and outputs. That's rail, baby.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Europe never measured the effectiveness of its well-engineered railway system by the volume of freight it hauled, but by the number of passengers it could move.

Not gonna say it...

[Gamecock]

That is true too.

But that costs big $$$.

I am looking forward to seeing how Virgin works out with it’s Florida trains. If successful that might trigger more investment in passenger rail.

[PapaBear3625]

I’d love to know why privatisation seems to work in the US yet has made things much worse in the UK.

I'm going to guess it has something to do with the relative power of railway unions.

[Yo-Yo]

Mr. President, when you get a mo, would you freaking DELIVER US FROM AMTRAK?!?

If it weren't for AMTRAK, there'd be no passenger service at all.

There's nowhere near enough traffic for a private company to replace AMTRAK profitably.

Regional commuter trains in places like Chicago are the only exceptions, and even those are subsidized by regional governments.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Freight was always the money maker in railroads. Passenger service was damaged by the interstate highway system.

[cymbeline]

Sounds like Europe runs passenger and freight trains on the same track. I thought maybe they used different tracks because Europe’s passenger trains are usually on schedule and there are a lot of them.

Here in America freight and passenger trains also run on the same tracks and the freight trains always get high priority meaning passenger trains have to wait on sidetracks for freight trains to pass.

[mewzilla]

If done right, meaning speedy, private passenger rail in the US could be a money maker.

I don’t fly now for a variety of reasons. And if rail could get me there quicker than a car for a price that’s cheaper than a plane ticket, I’d gladly hop on board.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great article! Thanks for posting. Key take-always:
• The European train system is passenger-oriented. In the U.S. trains are designed to haul freight.
• European freight trains are short compared to the U.S. Typical max train length in Europe is 40% of U.S. The longest U.S. trains are NINE TIMES longer than the maximum permitted European trains.
• European axle loads are two-thirds of U.S. axle loads.
• The max height of U.S. cars is 23 feet and can carry double-stacked containers. European max height is 15-16 feet and can only carry single containers.

My conclusion is:
1. the U.S. separately optimized rail transport for freight and air transport for passengers.
2. Europe has dual-use railroads optimized rail for passengers but grossly sub-optimized for freight.
3. From an overall freight/passenger transportation SYSTEM perspective, the U.S. is much better optimized than Europe.

This thoroughly debunks the liberal notion that European trains are far superior to U.S. trains. You need to look at the overall optimization of the passenger AND freight transportation SYSTEM, not just passenger traffic.