Trucking and Rail-freight

1
Trucking and Rail-freight

• Can we restore the balance?
• Natalie Litwin -President
• Daniel Hammond - Past President
• Transport Action Ontario

2
Can we restore the balance?

• If rail transport is so efficient and great for
  the environment, why did trucks come to dominant
  freight transport?
• Can we have an environmentally sustainable
  freight transport system without bankrupting us?
• Can this be done while stimulating economic
  growth?

3
How we got here

• Railways once the dominant mode of inland freight
  transport
• Mechanized rail superior to animal drawn road
  transport for all but the shortest distances
• Most businesses that used freight services once
  located near rail lines or spurs to avoid use of
  real horse-power cartage

4
How we got here

• Mechanization of road transport in the 20th
  Century created development away from rail lines
  and terminals
• Rail remained as the dominant carrier of freight
• Manufacturers, warehouses remained next to the
  rail lines

5
How we got here

• Just-in-time delivery of freight is not new
• In 1946, the New York Central Railway introduced
  Pacemaker service
• Overnight delivery thru-out most of New York
  state (with steam powered trains!)
• Myth debunked that rail cannot provide
  just-in-time service

6
How we got here

• By 1950, Pacemaker service was extended to St.
  Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal,
  Cleveland, Toledo
• With delivery times as good as the best ever
  offered by the trucking industry
• All on infrastructure that was built and
  maintained with private capital

7
How we got here

• In 1956, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed
  the Federal-Aid Highway Act  into law
• Railways now have to compete for capital and
  traffic with the largest public works program in
  history

8
How we got here

• In retrospect, did the railways protect the
  interests of their shareholders during the debate
  of the
• Federal-Aid Highway Act ?
• Would todays ATT, Rogers, Verizon and Bell
  Canada stand by while a public financed cell
  phone or fibre optic network was constructed?
•  

9
We are Here

• Public financed infrastructure
• Advances in automotive technology
• Government policies favouring highway transport
  (including permitting ever larger vehicles) and
  requiring railways to maintain an extensive
  network despite declining traffic
• Caused a massive shift of freight traffic from
  rail to road
• The myth that the free market chose highway
  transport is now busted

10
We are Here

• Less traffic with a post-war sized network, along
  with less access to capital (competition with
  government and the road transport companies for
  capital)

• Quality of this extensive rail network declined
  rapidly
• Delivery times lengthened and railways lost very
  profitable time sensitive traffic to highways
  with the decline accelerating in this viscous
  circle

11
We are Here

• Staggers Act of 1980 reduced the regulation of
  railway industry

• This regulatory freedom permitted reduction of
  rail network
• Financially stronger railways improved the
  network that remained

12
We are Here

• Exportation of manufacturing
• Growth of container shipping
• Big box retail
• Double-stack container trains
• Caused an explosion in rail traffic
• Shatters the myth that consumer goods are not
  handled by railways

13
We are Here

• Few terminals equipped to handle double stack
  container trains equals truck hauls the same or
  longer as when goods where manufactured in USA
  and Canada

14
Where We Want to Be

• Reduce fuel use (less CO2 and other emissions,
  less dependence on foreign petroleum)
• Reduce costs
• Reduce land use

15
Where We Want to Be

• Rail uses 1/7th the energy to move freight
• Rail can be electrified (less, or no, foreign
  oil, use of wind or solar generated)
• Rail is less effected by weather
• Rail is much higher in labour and land use
  productivity
• Secondary railways for local freight and public
  transit can be constructed for less than an
  arterial road
• Technology exists for economic rail short-haul of
  freight and international intermodal containers

16
Where We Want to Be A Plan to Get There

• Reduce public spending on highways
• Spending reduced to a level that maintains
  existing infrastructure
• Halt new projects and expansion
• Avoid use of PPP (Public Private Partnership) to
  creatively finance uneconomic/non-sustainable
  projects

17
Where We Want to Be A Plan to Get There

• Tax and policy incentives for investments in
  local intermodal terminals, (reduce truck haul),
  electrification of rail, short-line (existing or
  new track)
• Tax credits for shippers to increase use of rail
  freight
• Diversion of highway funding towards HSR High
  Speed Rail