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The research measured quantifiable impacts of shortline railroad abandonment in Kansas through the following four research tasks. First, an assessment of Kansas county road conditions and financing was conducted to determine the ability of counties to absorb the resulting incremental heavy truck traffic. Second, the changes in wheat handling and transportation costs were computed. Third, the increase in truck-attributable road damage costs to Kansas county and state roads was computed. Fourth, the additional highway accident benefits and costs attributable to the resulting incremental truck traffic were calculated. The western two-thirds of Kansas was selected as the study area. County road officials were interviewed and surveyed to assess county road conditions and finances. Geographic information system (GIS) routing software was used to model the wheat handling and transportation costs with and without shortline railroads. Using the results of the GIS transportation model and an existing pavement damage model, the additional damage costs to county and state roads were calculated. Finally, the safety cost was calculated using the estimated increased truck miles driven, accidents per mile traveled data and costs per accident.
Changes have occurred in the Kansas grain transportation system that have increased trucking of grain. Class I railroads in Kansas have encouraged the construction of unit train (100 or more railcars) loading facilities on their main lines. Kansas farmers will truck their grain a much greater distance to obtain the higher grain price at the unit train loading location. Farmers will bypass the local grain elevator, and the shortline railroad serving it, and truck the grain to the unit train loading facility, resulting in increased road damage costs. The increasing size of grain railcars threatens to reduce shortline railroad grain traffic and increase grain trucking. The new super jumbo covered hopper cars have loaded weights of 286,000 pounds, much higher than most of the shortline railroad track in Kansas is capable of handling. As the percentage of the grain car fleet that can move on shortlines declines, grain shippers will have no alternative but to truck their grain to terminal markets.
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Class I railroads have been replacing 263,000-pound (loaded weight) covered hopper cars capable of handling 100 tons of grain with 286,000-pound covered hopper cars that can handle 111 tons. While these heavier cars provide a decrease in railroad cost per ton-mile for the Class I (Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Railroads; they will cause a significant increase in operating and maintenance costs for the shortline railroads in the state of Kansas. Currently the shortline railroads make up 44% of the Kansas rail system. Five of the major shortline railroads that were consulted in this study found that at least 70% of their mainline tracks would need to be upgraded in order to efficiently and safely handle the 286,000 pound cars. Eight-six percent of their bridges would also need to be upgraded. The total cost to upgrade the tracks and bridges is estimated at
The continued loss of rail network infrastructure and rail service throughout the US has most instances resulted in the modal shift of rail freight back to truck. Rail freight converted to truck may have significant impact on pavement maintenance costs and activities due to the increased highway traffic volumes. This study will investigate three short-line rail routes in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and will determine the potential impacts of diverting rail freight flows to truck. A logistics flow routing will be created illustrating the new truck flows by highway classification and usage. The targeted highways current conditions and asset management techniques will be documented. A pavement maintenance model will be used to determine the incremental pavement maintenance cost per ton-mile if additional freight moved over various classes of highway and their impact on highway funding.
Trains have a nostalgic connotation for most Americans, but John Stilgoe argues that we should be looking to rail lines as the path to our future, not just our past. Train Time picks up where his acclaimed work Metropolitan Corridor left off, carrying Stilgoe's ideas about the spatial consequences of railways up to the present moment. With containers bringing the production of a global economy to our ports, the price of oil skyrocketing, and congestion and sprawl forcing many Americans to live far from work, trains offer an obvious alternative to a culture dependent on cars and long-haul trucking. Arguing that the train is returning, "an economic and cultural tsunami about to transform the United States," Stilgoe posits a future for railways as powerful shapers of American life. For anyone looking for prescient analysis and compelling history of the American landscape and economy in general and railroad and transit history in particular, Train Time is an engaging look at the future of our railroads and of transportation and land development. For those familiar with John Stilgoe's talent for seeing things that elude the rest of us, and delivering those observations in pithy asides about real estate, corporate culture, and other aspects of American life, this book will not disappoint.

Reauthorization of TEA-21

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Transportation, Infrastructure, and Nuclear Safety

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 1408


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