Trains. Most think of them as a nuisance because their loud but without them this world would be way different. Every single industry in the country has to use the railways to transport goods. Some people can indicate the growing of the economy from trains. Over the past couple years trains have been getting longer and longer due to more manufactures in America that affects the GDP and imports. The most common type is mixed fright. This consists of grain, oil, ethanol, scrap metal, and so much more. There are thousands of companies but they are split up into classes based on how many miles of rail they have. Class ones are the bigger companies like Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Kansas City Southern, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. There are many class twos but one major one is Wisconsin and Southern. All of those are multi-million corporations or fortune 500 companies. They are well paid and have good benefits for their employees. If we go back to when the frac sand was booming because of the oil findings out west they relied on tail too transport the frac sand and oil. Wisconsin being the powerhouse of a frac sand producers they benefited big time. Wisconsin railroads shipped about 105 million pounds of frac sand to the oil rigs all over America but mainly in the west. They also haul about 30 tons of frac sand a year on average.
Now if we look at it on the other side of the spectrum with intermodal loads they have been skyrocketing. The week of December 1st 2018 there were 382,810 intermodal units that were transported by rail throughout all of the United States. That number went up about 1% compared to last year. Canadian Pacific Railway’s intermodal traffic went up about 3% in the last week of December from last year on the same day. Canadian Pacific just recently signed a contract with Ocean Network Express (ONE). This signing boosted Canadian Pacific’s Intermodal traffic by 2%. Every class one railroad has seen a huge boost in intermodal traffic within the last week of 2018 but mainly Canadian Pacific and Canadian National benefited the best.
The most valuable type of loads are manifests. They consist of anything and everything you can think of. They ship food, oil, ethanol, grain, molten sulfur, and scrap metal. There are a lot of businesses that does things by rail. Mainly food companies transport by rail because it’s the fastest of all ways to get food from point A to point B and also the safest way too because one freight car can take 300 semi trucks off the American highways which decreases the risk for accidents and the pollution from the emissions. Sure the trains can derail, hit cars, and run into each other but the chances of that happening are slim to none because of the system the locomotives are programed with. Manifests carry millions of dollars worth of goods for multiple consumers all over the world. In the picture we see a Wisconsin and Southern manifest head towards Janesville, WI passing a grain elevator. This grain elevator is how farmers get grain to train cars.
As the United States imported more goods the rail traffic would benefit a lot. Throughout the years the United States imported a lot of things Oil, food, cars, and domestic goods just naming a few. Your brand new airpods for your Iphone XR were most likely shipped by ship, rail, and a truck. Everything you have is either shipped by one on them. They are the blood lines of any country because without those methods then the country would be in a bad state for transportation of goods. Every single American state has some sort of railway in it. Weather it’s a class one, class two, or a short line they are everywhere. They all serve the same purpose but ones are more busy than others.
Works Cited
Market Realist, marketrealist.com/2019/01/strong-carload-growth-drove-canadian-pacifics-rail-traffic.
Hubbuch, Chris. “Wisconsin Frac Sand Producers Seek Relief from Rail Costs, Service Issues.” La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse Tribune, 30 July 2018, lacrossetribune.com/news/local/wisconsin-frac-sand-producers-seek-relief-from-rail-costs-service/article_5bcb464e-2dd9-5ecf-9824-09cc24b1c7e7.html.
“Rail Traffic for November and the Week Ending December 1, 2018.” Association of American Railroads, www.aar.org/news/rail-traffic-for-november-and-the-week-ending-december-1-2018/.
It is vey interesting to say that trains can indicate the growth in the economy but just because there are more cars on a train, and they are transporting more does that mean our economy is growing? Just because we have more of something doesn't mean we will buy it so while I agree that trains are and important mode of transportation they can only be used to judge the economy to an extent.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this one I have to say this definitely one of the best I have read this year it wasn't boring , I could tell you did your research and knew what you were talking about. And it was intriguing to learn more economic and trains at the same time
ReplyDeleteTrains have always been a huge part of our economy, even back when our country first started. They provide the invaluable service of being able to transport goods over long distances cheaper and faster than even our modern and high tech vehicles. Not to mention, trains bring much economic growth with them, by allowing producers to sell products to a more diverse group of consumers. Overall, I agree that trains greatly benefits our economy.
ReplyDeleteTrains are always being used whether its to transport products or people. This article was very interesting and kept my attention the entire time. Trains are cheaper than cars and they are an efficient way of transporting many people at once. They are faster and there's no traffic, many people prefer trains over other vehicles and if I lived in the city I would definitely utilize this service.
ReplyDeleteTrains have been apart of our economy for over a hundred years. Trans have allowed us to transport good for so long at a faster rate and cheaper price. I agree that trains are important to our economies I also think it is interesting to see the positive and negative externalities that are caused. Trains are an important part of the economy that will be around for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe marginal social benefit that trains can bring to society is definitely apparent as they ships goods that we want and need. However, there also lies the question of if this marginal social benefit outweighs the marginal social cost. Trains can often produce smoke that is negative to the environment. This can hurt people's health, especially those who live close to train yards. Proximity to trains can also bring loud, obnoxious noises. If these noises interrupt a person's sleep, this can hurt their productivity at their own jobs, which in turn hurts other markets in the economy. Yes, this wouldn't have much of an effect on the whole economy, but local markets close to trains may suffer substantially.
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DeleteI really never thought about how much trains carried around the country and how vital they were. I guessed that trains had become obsolete because we had airplanes flying goods everywhere, but really trains are still very vital to our economy. You did mention that for every train 300 trucks are taken off the road which reduces car accidents and traffic. This is also true with passenger trains. People who take the train into a city like Chicago are reducing the amount of traffic and the likelihood of crashes.
ReplyDeleteTrains are such a big part of today's world without them we wouldn't get as many of our products at once they would come a lot slower and in lower amounts. The rail system is the best way for transporting many good in a short period of time.
ReplyDeleteIt was difficult trying to find the reasoning for your post and how it related to the economy. I sort of felt like I was just reading an article about trains but towards the end you brought up all the other shipment methods and how they are the blood lines for the economy. Now with that I feel you should’ve talked about all transportation methods as a whole because you state that without trains and railroads we wouldn’t get nearly enough goods. Now that’s where I disagree, with domestic goods and the factories we have in america yes trains probably are the best/cheapest option yet you bring up our imports and GDP. Most of our importing is from other nations across the globe and those trades are the ones raising our GDP because these are the ones with the apple airpods and consumer goods we all love. They aren’t coming from our trains like you said in your article they only ship food scrap metal and other materials used for oiling and manufacturing. Everything else we receive from planes and boats because we do most of our trades overseas. So my point I’m trying to get across is, yes the trains and railroads are the blood lines for the economy but only the domestic producers/manufactures side, overall the blood lines for the economy and our GDP are the planes and boats used for trading overseas.
ReplyDelete-Noah
DeleteI agree with Noah, I originally chose this article, because I was intrigued by what one had to say about trains and it's transporting system. I disagree on domestic goods being transferred by trains are the biggest transportation system. Trade often includes items from other counties, which when we look on almost any item of clothing, materials and necessities we see Made in "a different county." This means we do get most of our products from overseas. The first event of Made in America started in 2012 which explains why most of our products from before then and even now are made in a different country. We often gain our items from overseas, which is using the planes and ships to gain our products that we use everyday, rather than trains. In conclusion instead of trains being our blood lines of our economy, planes and boats are the true sources of our products.
Not only can I tell that you did your research, you were able to provide relevant information about trains. Which can be relate able to your audience. This is shown through your examples and pictures that you're presented. With the train picking up grain to transport. It really put into perspective of how important trains and railroad systems are for an economy. With supplying of resources for industry and factories. To also residential areas with food and building materials.-Ethan R
ReplyDeleteRailways are significant to the US economy and significant for transports within the US but we need to focus on how those goods get to the railways. Most of our goods are shipped from overseas (excluding agriculture). This brings me to my argument being railways are not the only factor in our economy and GDP. We have the connections overseas with other countries to purchase products for cheap and our railways are just one easy way to transport goods. Eventually we will find cheaper more effective ways to transport our goods.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that trains are helping the economy grow. Without trains we would not be able to transport nearly as much stuff around the country as we do with them. Along with this it is cheaper and much more efficient to ship things by train then by truck. They are usually able to get places faster by using train.
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