Railroads Struggle to Ship Coal in U.S.

Associated Press ^ | June 10, 2006 | BOB MOEN

[DemforBush]

Well, I bet Hillary can gets us lots of coal from Indonesia.

/sarc

[Nightrider]

all things eventualy change....more expensive or no, they will have to convert to more efficient, more available, cleaner energy and come into the 21st century....

[decimon]

I have to quibble with the "more available" part. The supply is plentiful if the transport is lacking.

[Jonah Hex]

I also quibble about BNSF and UP being "the main shippers of coal" in the U.S. I imagine Norfolk Southern and CSX would object to that statement.

[DH]

The US rail system is one of the most inefficient, labor union intensive, incompetent systems in the world.

They are the civilian equivalent of the Postal Service.

[FreedomPoster]

Yet another reason to push for more central station nuclear generation.

[Ken522]

When I was a kid in Colorado, we always used to watch these long coal trains go trundling down the tracks - when you're stuck in the back seat, all you can do is count the rail cars!

[chief_bigfoot]

Here's another aspect where W and the gov't have failed us. As with the gasoline 'crisis', we are sorely lacking in keeping up and expanding the infrastructure required to fuel our nation. No refineries built since the 70s. Now this article that points out that no new track has been added in years. Hmmm, let's see, can you say enviromentalists and lawyers? How long is W going to stand by and let this situation deteriorate during a time of war before he takes action to remedy it. I know he's made noises about it, but no action that I've heard of. Isn't an executive order to suspend some of the enviromental impact studies and such the kick start that is desperately needed for the construction of oil refineries, nuclear power plants, and added rail capacity (although the last one isn't as vital if we shift more to nuke power)? During the Clintoon administration it seemed as if he was signing an executive order every other day (can you say Grand Staircase Escalante?). And that was during 'peacetime'.

[decimon]

Here's another aspect where W and the gov't have failed us.

I'd prefer to leave gov't out of this to let the market respond to demand.

I'll stand corrected if wrong but I believe the needed railbeds are extant and needing just the rail and the trains.

[Nightrider]

we'll agree on that, but that's a Lot of coal to haul....

[Larry Lucido]

Ken Dannager and Dagney Taggert would have had this figured out by now.

[Jacquerie]

To keep electricity flowing to some 1.6 million homes, the power plant burns up to 24,000 tons of coal every day.

I wonder what the equivalent number of fart fans is to 24,000 tons of coal.

[Tinian]

President Bush can't just snap his fingers and make new rails appear. The EIS for this project will be relatively small because it only involves an existing rail corridor.

What takes the most time is acquiring properties for the wider Right-of-Way and new new staging yard, drawing up the plans, staking, grading and laying the rails. In other words, all of the things that would need to be done even if there were no environmental laws. I've made a living working for both companies involved in environmental compliance and companies involved in civil engineering, so I know what I speak of.

These anti-Bush rants are getting more ridiculous by the day.

[chief_bigfoot]

"I'd prefer to leave gov't out of this to let the market respond to demand."

In a perfect world where the government actually abides by the Constitution as written, I'd agree. Unfortunately the reality is that we are burdened by huge beauracratic millstones that restrict, discourage, and outright prohibit the market forces at every turn. The only way I see to get past that and remedy this problem is by W using the bully pulpit and executive order during wartime.

" I'll stand corrected if wrong but I believe the needed railbeds are extant and needing just the rail and the trains."

The railbeds may still be there, but they were either in the wrong place and unprofitable, or now they have been converted to bike paths.

[decimon]

...that's a Lot of coal to haul....

I'll assume that's not a biblical reference and agree with you.

I'm cool with the coal if this is a good old-fashioned supply and demand thing.

[chief_bigfoot]

I don't see it as an 'anti-bush' rant. More of an anti-beauracracy rant.

I don't expect W to snap his fingers and make it go away. I do expect him to take action to at least make some progress towards remedying the problem, especially given the current global situation with the WOT and the emerging 3rd world demands on energy.

IMHO, we need to move from coal-fired plants anyways. That alone would free up the resources that are being consumed mining, and transporting the coal, and at the same time relieving the need to acquire more land for rails.

[Brilliant]

The two main shippers of U.S. coal - BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad - say they are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in order to ship more Wyoming coal and keep up with an ever growing demand for power.




Our rail system is in sorry need of an upgrade.

[iowamark]

Thank you for the link to the Alliance for Rail Competition

the Alliance for Rail Competition believes that the introduction of elements of market-based competition into the railroad marketplace is critical in order to maintain and enhance the national and global competitiveness of the railroads' customers.

I believe that the US railroads and their unions are corrupt and inefficient and this corruption hurts US competitiveness.

[Tinian]

The railbeds may still be there, but they were either in the wrong place and unprofitable, or now they have been converted to bike paths.

Please read the article:

BNSF and UP are investing about $200 million in a project that will eventually expand what had been a two-track line into three tracks for the entire 75-mile length. A 15-mile stretch will get a fourth set of tracks, BNSF spokesman Pat Hiatte said.

We're talking about widening an existing ROW (pretty clear if you bother to read the article) and laying new track. Like I said before, it will take far longer to acquire the money, property, plan and lay the track than anything else.

Am I claiming there will be no beauracratic hurdles? No, I'm not. But there is a huge beauracratic difference between starting from scratch and expanding an existing rail line. Your rants may be justified for the construction of a new nuclear power plant, but they're plain silly here.