Is a US economic implosion (aka Greece) inevitable?

[Simon_Jester]

For some suburbs this is a very viable thing. For others, you'd have to lay new track, because the towns themselves went up in the 1950s and later, and never got light rail connections to the major cities.

[MKSheppard]

Umm...There's plenty of trackage (or former trackage) left in the US. I bet you can't go more than 120 miles from a route of way in the Eastern and Midwestern US.

When I took the Cardinal from DC to Cincinatti back in November, what struck me was all the unused sidings that went right up to buildings all along the route. No longer needed in the age of 500+ mile trucks.

[Simon_Jester]

Yes, there's plenty of track- but there isn't track everywhere, so you have to move some of the towns or lay new track to supply them.

It's not so much the freight rail that requires this- even with expensive gasoline, it's probably viable to drop the goods off and truck them five or ten miles to get to the point of sale. It's the passenger transportation.

I live in a fairly remote suburb of Washington D.C. There are railroad tracks running through this massively extended 'town' that is in fact a loosely connected array of bedroom communities with strips of commercial development to knit it together. There was a railroad station, in the heart of the tiny chunk of town that was actually there in the early 20th century.

The rest of town... nope. We'd have to lay new track- trolleys, light rail, the works. And, of course, move in to be more tightly clustered around the railroad. Or we could abandon the entire area and let it revert to farms, I suppose.

That's doable, it's not impossible, but remember that it'll need to be done.

[Lonestar]

I would bet that if gas prices went so badly through the roof there would be a lot of incentive to convert former rail-trails back into passenger/freight rail. For example, there's a 45 mile Rail Trail that cuts right through densely populated Northern VA. Besides re-laying track, the other big hurdle would be with overpasses that are too low.

[MKSheppard]

Yes, there's plenty of track- but there isn't track everywhere, so you have to move some of the towns or lay new track to supply them.

Incorrect.



US Class I railroads circa 2009.

Brownish: Union Pacific (UP)
Green: BNSF
Black: Norfolk Southern (NS)
Blue: CSX Transportation (CSX)

There are a couple of smaller Class I's not included, like Kansas City Southern, which handles upper Louisiana; but the scale for it's track map is off compared to others, so it's not shown.

Then there's the smaller railroads not shown; such as the Florida East Coast Railroad, which runs literally right along Florida's East Coast (duh). It used to be a Class I railroad, until it dropped into the Class II tier of regional carriers; and it still does a great business moving bulk limestone.

There are talks currently underway to restore Amtrak passenger service along the FEC route of way; which would have been nice for me to visit my Grandmother in Vero Beach, FL.

There's other smaller railroads across the US; like Gettysburg and Northern Railroad (GET) which operates 25 miles of track in Gettysburg, which connects with CSX and Norfolk Southern.



Yes, those are EMD F7A units in active revenue service in 2008. You can also see the battlefield to the right of the track.

The rest of town... nope. We'd have to lay new track- trolleys, light rail, the works. And, of course, move in to be more tightly clustered around the railroad. Or we could abandon the entire area and let it revert to farms, I suppose.

Given that a Ford Taurus from 2004 with the V6 has a 17~ MPG in city; and modern cars are going to get about 22-23 MPG in the city; with stuff like the Volt getting 30~ miles on all electric mode...there's more than enough range for people to drive to the railroads, rather than lay down trolleys everywhere.

[MKSheppard]

Another Class II is Montana Rail Link System Map

They actually asked the STB please don't classify us as a Class I, we don't like paperwork.