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POINT of VIEW * USA - Trucking Industry vs. Rail system = Follow the money
The largest contributors are the real estate developers and they have a lot of control over what the politicians do
Denver,CO,USA -The Truck Industry Examiner, by Jason Cox -April 12, 2010: ... Highways are crowded because our major cities have inadequate mass transit systems and poorly planned real estate development. Who has the biggest influence on the money to be spent on trucking and rail systems - politicians. How is this tied together, you ask? ... The reason is this, residential development is the most lucrative way to make a lot of money off a little land. Here's an example; Owning 350 acres of land in central Ohio is valuable (one farm is going for $980,000 in Thurman, OH right now). But, being able to sell each 1/4 section of those 350 acres for $250,000 (the cost of a typical home around Washington, DC) is extraordinarily valuable [350 x 4 x $250,000 = $350,000,000]... The Real Estate Developers have developed relationships with whom spend the taxpayers money on new roads to provide access to the land the developers own and where the new houses will be built, and it is all pretty much completely legal. Politicians control zoning and road or rail access and in exchange they get donations they use to get re-elected... The same is true of the railroads, but with a twist. The railroads compete with trucking directly for a portion of the freight market. Railroads only want to have trucks carry the short haul loads in the US, with Railroads owning all the long haul business... Normally, the "market" would determine if Railroads deserve to "own" the long distance freight business if they could prove they are more efficient than Trucking. Unfortunately for the railroads, the market has already decided that trucks are more efficient for the high value items needed in small locations throughout the US... The railroads get the politicians to delay and study new rail routes while at the same time the politicians don't do anything that will really relieve traffic congestion on the highways... Because trucking is more efficient for the high end freight hauling business, the competition between trucks and rail is rigged and truckers don't have the financial resources to compete in the game by out contributing to the politicians. And those politicians are not going to admit they allow traffic congestion to get worse and worse simply to decrease the efficiency of the trucking industry... (Photo: Highway Congestion - It's only getting worse)Labels: opinions
posted by Unknown @ 5:35 PM
1 Comments:
Solution is to introduce B-double trucks, like Australia, which would half the number of trucks on the road for the same frieght. A B-double is a 26m (85 feet)two trailer rig with a gross of 68 tonnes (150,000 lbs). See image: http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/rod_simmonds/2005/may16/northsideproducde-sa-k-bdouble.jpg
Get politicians to sign off on the larger trucks and they don't have to invest in as many roads. It seems to work in Australia.
John Melbourne, Australia
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