[RayChuang88]

Driverless freight trucks not the threat to long-distance truckers. The real threat is this:

Today, a doublestack container train can haul 250 full-loaded freight containers with only five locomotives (three in front, one in the middle and one in the rear operated in distributed power control fashion). And improvements in technology could push that to 300 per train.

With the major railroads spending many billions on double-tracking many long distance routes or putting in longer sidings on single-track lines, we are seeing a revolution where more and more freight are moved by container trains, taking more and more truck traffic off the highways. The days of the long-distance trucker may be soon waning.

[lacrew]

The company I work for was recently involved with lowering the tracks in a tunnel, to allow double stacks through.

Also the local intermodal yard (Kansas City) has been replaced by one that is orders of magnitude bigger.

The railroads are enjoying a windfall of money from moving oil around (Why else would Warren Buffet support a president who is blocking the Keystone pipeline), and they are investing a lot of that money in infrastructure that will keep them on top for decades to come.