[Don W]

I would think your presumption of equal fuel use is way off.

Any aircraft will use more fuel per pound moved than any land transport simply because lifting something uses energy, in addition to moving it horizontally.

Trains (steel wheels on steel rails) are extraordinarily efficient: a typical train uses ONE gallon of diesel to move one TON of freight around 300 MILES.

Your average jetliner uses more fuel than that taxiing to the runway.

[Be Free]

"I would think your presumption of equal fuel use is way off."

National Geographic has a (semi) scientific answer to that: HERE.

Not as cut-and-dried as one might think. Seems to depend on distance traveled, and whether measuring on an absolute basis vs. per-passenger.