It's Time to Electrify the Railroads

[Eletruk]

Transferring freight from truck to electrified rail trades 17 to 21 BTUs of diesel for one BTU of electricity. Electrifying 80% of railroad ton-miles and transferring half of current truck freight to rail would take about 1% of US electricity. 1% is an amount that could be easily conserved, or, with less ease, provided by new renewable generation and/or new nuclear plants.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/time-to-electrify-the-rails.php

[leitmotif]

Rail is almost the most energy efficient transport mode for cargo exceeded only by marine.   Dont know about the statistics quoted here, but they sound close.  It has already been done by Milwaukee railroad from Washington to Montannal and I think further (went belly up in early '80's)

The problem with this is what are you going to do about the out of work truckers AFTER they have hauled the wire and poles to electrify rail??

I have not sat on a mountail pass to check interstate trucking but I work near the railyard in Seattle.  Numerous freight trains go by daily mostly bulk ie tanker or grain or containers.  All are mile or so long strings.
 
Dan Bentler

[Eletruk]

I as going to make a snide remark about how truckers would make great telemarketers (after all, they already sit on their butts all day and talk on the CB or phone).

But seriously...
A lot of truckers are getting near retirement age, and a lot of other truckers are quitting because of fuel prices. So maybe we won't have to worry all that much about what to do with displaced truck drivers.

[aviken]

All the concern about what are people in this industry if that changes and there is no more need for them....it's simply hogwash. There is a certain amount of work out there, and there is always something to do. The reality is if your industry is changing, you change with it or change careers.

This is the same debate that has happened a million times over in just about every industry. It's the price of progress. What about all the coal miners & workers at the coal factories? All the people that work at gas stations? If we get more green electricity, and stop using so much oil, then what are they going to do? Something else. They'll have to.

The earth still has the same number of people to feed, house and clothe...so they will do something else...even it means retraining / learning to do something different. After all, they had to learn how to drive a big rig at some point, right?