This thread is to explore the reasons why one mode is better or preferred over the other. It is not about you being cut off by a big truck or being kept awake by rail shunting yards, or being jealous that an ethnic minority (possibly with criminal backgrounds) without a tertiary education earns more money than you do. There is a lot of nostalgia around rail but this thread will explain why modern road transport takes so much freight outside of certain bulk cargoes which make sense on rail, eg coal, milk timber etc…
1) Delivery time: So many items these days are ordered at the last minute or part of a just-in-time manufacturing process. This is dictated by businesses and you the consumer. I’m sure people here will have shopped online and understand that if they purchase a needed item before 2-4pm they can have it delivered the next morning/day. The list is endless of things that fall into this category from perishable/fresh foodstuffs to parts your mechanic needs so you can have your bike/car back in time for weekend.
Often in road transport the truck that is picking up an item can direct deliver it. This reduces the need for double handling which exposes fragile items to more chance of damage, eg bike fairings or delicately engineered structures.
2) Accountability: Following on from the above with items passing through less hands it reduces the chance of theft or loss and if something does get overlanded at wrong depot usually with a couple of phone calls a dispatcher can prompt minds into where something went and recover item. The loaders and driver (often the same person) will have a personal sense of pride and work ethic in not damaging stuff.
3) Land prices: Rail needs lots land for shunting yards and for storing freight before delivery. Rail really works for customers ordering large quantities of stuff, so those customers must have warehousing space of their own to store stuff. Your local Pak n Save is a good example, looks like a lot of food on those racks but its only 3-4 days worth of sales. Imagine how much extra space would be needed if say all their non perishable stuff came by train once every couple of weeks. Imagine all the places you shop at having to have premises at least twice the size they do now to store goods.
4) Traffic: People are already moaning about courier drivers double parking, running red lights etc. Just imagine a heap of extra metro trucks running around town. Many deliveries to retail and industrial premises are often done direct early in the morning before Joe Bloggs commuter hits the streets. Most railway lines seem to cut most cities in half creating disruption too.
So are you the consumer willing to pay more to get your goods delivered slower? Are you the new entrepreneur willing to risk your new product getting to the new client late or damaged? Are you all willing to pay more in general for all goods as the increased costs get passed on? Will the monopoly provider charge fair prices if it has no competition? If you’re so concerned about environment, congestion and road maintainance will you park the car for next holiday and travel by bus or trail instead? Will you ask your online retailers to ship your product by rail instead of road?
Rail has its place for certain freight items but it is YOU the consumer/retailer/manufacturer that is driving road transport demand.
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Originally Posted by bogan
Opinions are like arseholes: Everybody has got one, but that doesn't mean you got to air it in public all the time....
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