palallin posted:TexasSP posted:palallin posted:TexasSP posted:So what's your proposed logistical solution for doing away with semis?
Trains.
So trains will replace semi deliveries to every point of sale? What if I need to ship 40k pounds from OH to TX and it be here in 2 days, how does this function by rail?
That's just it: it doesn't need to be there in 2 days if we do not cling to the extraordinarily wasteful "just in time" inventory regime. We waste--as a society--immense resources in the current logistics system, and I eagerly anticipate the day it dies the ignominious death it deserves. I just hope that that day is not postponed until our resources simply collapse.
The biggest problem with your idea is that the railroads don't even WANT most of the traffic you are talking about. The reason so much of this traffic goes by truck is the railroads ran the customers off, either by offering lousy unreliable service, or all but flat out making it impossible for the customer to ship by rail. The loads the railroads are interested in are unit trains, customers that move hundreds or thousands of cars a year, and those loads like coal, grain, oil and other commodities were they really don't have any competition so they can provide mediocre service and charge whatever the can get away with.
