Relative Efficiencies of Rail and Trucking in the United States

Comparison of the Relative Efficiencies of Rail and Trucking in the United States

Source: Adapted from Brown, T.A and A.B. Hatch (2002) The Value of Rail Intermodal to the US Economy.

Rail transportation has several key advantages over trucking, particularly in terms of energy efficiency (4 times), capacity (6 times), and costs (2 times).