(cont'd)
Oil has been a big part of this surge in rail transport. The first crude oil coming out of the Bakken formation in North Dakota was moved by train in 2009. Burlington Northern is now moving 600,000 barrels per day: compare to 54,000 in 2010.
Moving so much oil increases the risk of accidents and there have been several.
"Congress passed legislation requiring the country’s major railroads to fund, build and implement a new, safer “Positive Train Control” system by the end of 2015. The law called for Union Pacific alone to refit an average of 2.5 locomotives and 10 miles of track per day for seven years, placing GPS devices on every locomotive."
Beyond this program, there's "92,000 cars that need to be retrofitted." At what cost, who knows.
Unlike wind energy and car manufacturing, the railroad industry is footing the bill with no government subsidies, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars.
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