Jim,

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to your idea is the self-interest of the individual railroads. I have seen many instances where the tracks run close to each other, but the shortest path is not taken. I have also seen negotiations for freight charges change dramatically when the plant owner seeks to run a spur off of a competitor's line. Rail costs vary so much when the car changes lines (and therefore engines and crews that often are not well coordinated) that the time factor for delivery is often discarded by these charges. Although rail is usually the best from an ecological (lowest fuel usage), all the time of rail swapping and congestion on some parts of the lines forces many to the trucking industry.

Michael E. Higgins
President, Higgins Consulting, Inc.

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