RAIL TRANSPORT &

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT

Topics

Transport modes
Modal competition
Passenger or freight?
Transportation today

Transport Modes

TRANSPORT MODES
CONTD

TRANSPORT MODES
CONTD

TRANSPORT MODES
CONTD

TRANSPORT MODES
CONTD

TRANSPORT MODES
CONTD

Performance Comparison for Selected Freight

Modes
Vehicle
Capacity
Truck Equivalency
Barge

1500 Tons
52,500 Bushels
453,600 Gallons

57.7
(865.4 for 15 barges in tow)

Hopper car

100 Tons
3,500 Bushels
30,240 Gallons

3.8

100 car train unit

Semi-trailer truck

Post-panamax containership

VLCC

747-400F

10,000 Tons
350,000 Bushels
3,024,000 Gallons
26 Tons; 910 Bushels
7,865 Gallons
9,000 for a tanker truck
5,000 TEU

384.6

2,116

300,000 tons
2 million barrels of oil

9,330

124 tons

Comparison of the Relative Efficiencies

of Rail and Trucking in the us
Mode

Fuel
Consumption

Infrastructure
Capacity

Costs

Safety

Railroad

455 ton-miles
per gallon

216 million tons 2.7 cents per 0.61 fatalities

per mainline
ton-mile
per billion tonper year
miles; 12.4
incidents per
billion tonmiles

Trucking

105 ton-miles
per gallon

37.8 million
tons per lane
per year

5.0 cents per 1.45 fatalities

ton-mile
per billion tonmiles; 36.4
incidents per
billion tonmiles

Modal Competition
Infrastructure / Route

Mode

Market Area

TRANSPORTATION TODAY

Rail Transportation
17th century move material in quarries &
mines
Major role in economic development
Rail line
Resources
Servicing regional economies
Achieve territorial control
High level of economic & territorial control
Monopoly Europe
Oligopoly North America

RAIL TRANSPORTATION
CONTD

Geographical Settings of
Rail Lines

Transcontinental Lines
Penetration LinesLocal / Regional Networks

Nation A

Nation B

Types Rail Corridors

Copyright 1998-2009, Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of Global Studies & Geography, Hofstra University. For personal or classroom use ONLY. This material (including
graphics) is not public domain and cannot be published, in whole or in part, in ANY form (printed or electronic) and on any media without consent. This includes conference

Economy of rail tptn

Large qtty of freight & pax
reasonable speed
Pax service high population
Freight traffic bulk, agricultural &
industrial raw material
Low energy consumption
High capital cost

Economy of rail tpt (2)

Interurban pax tptn
Japan, China, India
High speed pax rail Europe
North America
Freight dominant
Pax major urban corridors

Performance of Rail and Road

Transportation

economy of rail tptn

Impact of globalization
Land bridges
Influenced by pattern of energy consumption
Integration rail & maritime
Extended metropolitan region
Container traffic

Technical changes in rail

tptn

Bypassing Effect of a High

Speed Railway
A

Landbridges
Use the land freight as a means of transport
connection - continuity of a maritime
segment
History
Silk road (15th century)
1st modern landbridge = 1880s by
Canadian Pacific Railway : to improve
shipping time of high value Asian
commodities
Associated with intermodal transportation

Landbridges (2)
Characteristic of
landbridge
Single bill of
lading issued by
freight forwarder
that covers the
entire intermodal
journey
The goods remain
in the same
container for the
entire journey

TYPES OF LANDBRIDGES
Landbridge
the rail system is used as a link between a foreign
origin and destination. The continental mass is
simply used as a link (bridge) between two maritime
systems.
an intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel
from country A to country B, land bridges across an
entire body of land/ country/ continent, en route.
the transport mode is almost exclusively rail because
it offers a faster long distance service.
e.g., a container shipment from China to Germany, is
loaded onto a ship in China, unloads at a Los Angeles
(California) port and travels via rail transport to a
New York/New Jersey port, and loads on a ship for
Hamburg. Also see Eurasian Land Bridge.

TYPES OF LANDBRIDGES (2)

Minibridge
it involves a foreign origin but the destination is
a port reached from another port of the same
continental mass.
An intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel
from country A to country B, passes across a
large portion of land in either country A or B.
e.g., a container shipment from China to New
York (New York), is loaded onto a ship in China,
unloads at a Los Angeles (California) port and
travels via rail transport to New York (New York),
the final destination.

TYPES OF LANDBRIDGES (3)

Microbridge
it involves a link between a foreign origin and an
inland destination via a port of entry
An intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel from
country A to country B, passes across a large portion
of land to reach an interior inland destination.
took more time to become implemented because
collaboration (such as joint ventures) among
companies of different transport sectors are needed
e.g., a container shipment from China to Denver
(Colorado), is loaded onto a ship in China, unloads at
a Los Angeles (California) port and travels via rail
transport to Denver (Colorado), the final destination.
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