tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8187108429320043507.post2784763449328822525..comments2023-06-18T11:15:19.480-04:00Comments on The Tumbleweed Farm: The world's railways, all on one mapAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04519885025963711017noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8187108429320043507.post-67497515697502757582011-10-19T00:06:57.927-04:002011-10-19T00:06:57.927-04:00I followed a link from Language Hat to get here. S...I followed a link from Language Hat to get here. Speaking as an ex-railroader (but not a cartographer or transport economist) I think your comments about Western Hemisphere railways make sense. What's happened in the US industry over the past 50 years is that the old labor-intensive local freight services, which couldn't be done without a crew of at least three, have mostly been discontinued; the industry now specializes in "unit trains" made up of only one type of car, either containers of high-value cargo or bulk shipments of coal, logs, grain, building materials, and the like, relatively low-value and not, as a rule, time-critical. These are operated by two-person crews and, because they don't need to travel fast, can be operated over tracks maintained to a fairly low standard. This helps explain why (outside the Northeast Corridor) Amtrak's passenger trains run so slowly and give such an uncomfortable ride, when they aren't waiting in a siding for the private carriers' freight trains coming the other way.john_burke100https://www.blogger.com/profile/07095645907050540263noreply@blogger.com