[sustran] Re: rail vs road freight distribution

[K. Tsourlakis]

It seems you imply that informed consumers decide for rail or road transport prevalence. However this is a collective decision of the society mediated through politicians choices and actually shaped by lobbying (often a euphemism for corruption) and advertisement (i.e. mass brainwashing).

I have of course many historical data of how this happened in my country (as you, I suppose, can find for yours - and everybody else for his/hers), but being on this listserv I find more proper to concentrate on what is happening in India concerning this process. Having seen these pictures from "Golden Quadrilateral Project" motorway, I was impressed of how empty it looked (as far as I know, as a rule of thumb, a motorway has to have at least an average daily traffic of 10.000 cars to justify its expenses - does this happen in stretches far from the cities?). I also wonder if feasibility studies are carried out, and, if so, what cost was assigned to the crossing pedestrians danger and delay, the pollution, noise and other externalities, whether tolls are collected (and how much) etc. For the brainwashing my questions are less - the NYtimes article document well this point.

I am not sure if ETT (Evacuated Tube Transport) is a feasible solution, and I think we will never be sure until it is tried in practice. Things in real world can be quite different than in papers - consider the experience of Maglev. But I am sure that if it has any merit, companies looking after profit will make some attempts to experiment on it (even if use of "lobbying" and "advertisement" is required to promote it).

>
>>> Original Message From: K. Tsourlakis
>>> 
>>> A little scrutiny can prove that motorways are an oxymoron per se. Indeed,
>>> road transport has advantage over rail transport where there are scattered
>>> movements (many sources and destinations with low loads). But motorways
>>> are always built along corridors with concentrated movements (few sources
>>> and destinations with high loads). So motorways are NEVER a good solution.
>
>
>I have presented ample data that shows that motorways have marginalized
>passenger rail to the point of having a 90% market share in 1910, to a less
>than a 2% market share today.  This fact appears to contradict the absolute
>terms of your supposition.  Please support you thesis with fact and
>historical data that proves your point.  
>
>
>
>>> Agricultural products are rarely transported directly from fields to
>>> shops. Usually they are concentrated in warehouses near production areas,
>>> afterwards distributed to warehouses near consumption centres (i.e.
>>> cities) and from there distributed to the final consumption (stores). The
>>> central movement (between warehouses - the long one) is a concentrated
>>> movement, hence better implemented by rail.
>
>K. Tsourlakis,
>
>Good points about rail use for freight. It is true that most produce is
>moved using the most economical methods, and this is often a combination of
>truck and rail.  Please consider that a fully developed ETT network could
>transport produce a pallet at a time directly from the producer to retailer,
>-- without all the logistic gymnastics of trucks, containers, warehouses,
>distribution centers, trains, ships, etc.  
>
>ETT (Evacuated Tube Transport) can achieve as high of a transport flux as
>rail, with less than a tenth of the per mile infrastructure cost.  ETT is
>also virtually silent (sound cannot be transported in a vacuum), and ETT is
>faster than jets.  With all the benefits available with ETT, why would
>anyone promote rail infrastructure for new development, especially since
>cars/roads have displaced passenger rail to ultra high density niche markets
>in developed countries.  
>
>Daryl Oster
>(c) 2006  all rights reserved.  ETT, et3, MoPod, "space travel on earth"
>e-tube, e-tubes,  and the logos thereof are trademarks and or service marks
>of et3.com Inc.  For licensing information contact: POB 1423, Crystal River
>FL 34423-1423  (352)257-1310, et3 at et3.com , www.et3.com
>




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