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Tuesday, June 14th, 2022

Locomotive Power: Delivering a sustainable future

Author:     IAN JEFFERIES
Source:     Politico
Publication Date:     05/16/2022 | 09:00 AM EDT
 Link: Locomotive Power: Delivering a sustainable future
Stephan:   Even taking into consideration the obvious bias that this is written by a railroad executive, it nonetheless is telling us something important that is true. For the last several months in the professional literature, I have seen papers reporting the pieces that, put together, will achieve what Jan Jefferies is describing. I think the railroad industry realizes that the transition out of the carbon-powered era, offers them an opportunity to prosper in a way railroads have not done since airlines began and gutted their passenger business. It is going to take years to create roadways that charge the vehicles that drive upon them. I think the U.S. going to do the gas station model first, with charging networks. Railroads brought into the 21st century to levels like those in Japan, or the EU, will prosper.

Railroads have been a pillar of the American economy for nearly two centuries by constantly evolving to meet the needs of our country. It’s why the industry continues to be a critical link in our supply chain, both in the volume of freight that is moved as well as how sustainably it is shipped.

While railroads account for more long-distance freight volume in the U.S. than any other mode of transportation (measured by ton-miles) at 40 percent, they are still only responsible for 1.9 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Simply put, freight rail is ahead of all other surface transportation modes when it comes to its total carbon footprint.

This achievement, and many others like it, is possible because railroads have been consistently investing their own capital to make their equipment, infrastructure and operations more sustainable. Simultaneously, they’ve teamed up with experts on cutting-edge energy research to move closer to a low — or even zero — carbon future. Through these collaborations with suppliers, academic institutions and […]

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