AAR Highlights Freight Rail's Role in Easing Highway Gridlock

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of American Railroads praised a national transportation study released today that cited rail's key role in solving America's highway gridlock problem. The 2010 Urban Mobility Report issued by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) called for additional rail capacity for moving both passengers and freight as a part of reducing the time and money lost to highway congestion.

Relief for gridlock rides on our nation's rail system, said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. By moving more people and goods by rail, we can relieve congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help consumers save expensive fuel wasted in highway traffic.

Freight rail's congestion curbing credentials are considerable:

• Today, one freight train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks, which is roughly equivalent to removing 1,100 cars from our congested highways.
• Thanks to constant efforts to improve fuel efficiency, a typical freight train can move a ton of goods 480 miles on a single gallon of fuel. That's like driving from Washington, D.C. to Toledo, Ohio on just one gallon of gas.

Among its recommendations for addressing congestion, TTI called for adding rail capacity to the national transportation system, including improved grade separations, rail yard improvements and new intermodal terminals. America's freight railroads own and operate the 140,000 miles of track that makes up the national rail network that today serves both passengers and freight customers. As the only mode of transportation that is almost entirely self sustaining, freight railroads in recent years have invested on average $20 billion in private capital annually to build, maintain and grow the rail capacity needed to move both people and goods.

America's freight railroads have invested more than $480 billion over the past three decades to build, maintain and grow the national rail network that today is the envy of the world, added Hamberger. Those investments are critical to sustaining, let alone growing, our nation's rail capacity, which is essential to powering U.S. economic recovery.

About AAR

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is the world's leading railroad policy, research and technology organization. AAR members include the major freight railroads, or Class I railroads, of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak. For more information, visit www.aar.org. Follow us on Twitter: AAR_FreightRail or Facebook: www.facebook.com/freightrail.