Freight rail efficiency is measured in "labor-cost-per-revenue-ton-mile".
The cost of trucking is dominated by the fuel-cost-per-ton-mile.
Whereas the cost of moving 1 ton of goods over rail is dominated by the cost of labor, the cost of moving 1 ton of goods via truck is dominated by the cost of fuel.
In point of fact, rail freight gets ~436 ton miles per gallon.
The only mode of transport that gets more ton-miles-per-gallon is water transport (DSO, dry bulk shipping, oil and gas tankers, panamax, river barges, etc...)
The edge case is liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, which can be transported via pipeline. It's no surprise that Buffet has been buying up oil and gas pipelines over the past several years.
The only catch here is that waterway transport inside the United States has sub-optimal efficiency due to the Jones Act.
The cost of trucking is dominated by the fuel-cost-per-ton-mile.
Whereas the cost of moving 1 ton of goods over rail is dominated by the cost of labor, the cost of moving 1 ton of goods via truck is dominated by the cost of fuel.
In point of fact, rail freight gets ~436 ton miles per gallon.
The only mode of transport that gets more ton-miles-per-gallon is water transport (DSO, dry bulk shipping, oil and gas tankers, panamax, river barges, etc...)
The edge case is liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, which can be transported via pipeline. It's no surprise that Buffet has been buying up oil and gas pipelines over the past several years.
The only catch here is that waterway transport inside the United States has sub-optimal efficiency due to the Jones Act.