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If the freight rail system were as good as it should be, long distance trucking would be a rounding error instead of the dominant freight mode.

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Trucks and trains serve different purposes. My understanding is the US has a higher percentage than most of freight carried by rail. Indeed at the expense of its passenger rail

Airlines killed passenger rail, not freight. Prior to it all being rolled into Amtrak virtually every railroad was losing money on passenger service.

The Post Office shifting mail transport from trains to planes is what changed the economics.

The passenger trains also carried mail, which helped make them profitable. Then the mail, and the money, moved to passenger planes.

Canada is moving away from moving regular mail by air to cut costs.

Dunno if it will move by train or truck.

Probably too late to add much volume on the ground.

Long distance trucking gets heavily subsidized by all other road users. Damage is caused by the fourth power of weight, but trucking only paid 35% of maintenance while being responsible for 99% of the cost.

https://truecostblog.com/2009/06/02/the-hidden-trucking-indu...

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