Why Freight Trains Keep Getting Longer - Cheddar Explains

Trains should be large like ships, basically traveling city, dubia line but moving like train

Cheddar: We need more immigrants! They work the jobs that Americans won’t!!
Also cheddar: WHY ARE THE TRAINS SO BIG?!?!?!
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I saw a video of a crossing in the UK in a rural town where they constructed an underpass which have a lane in each direction where only passengers vehicles can pass through right next to the regular level crossing, commercial vehicles however still have to wait for the train and when there is no train the cars also crosses the tracks. It's cheap, uses less resources and takes a lot less real estate then building a huge bridge overpass.

Well, this applys with the U.S.A For the most part, Since The U.S is not only a big country, but contains large Locomotives and Rolling stock.

What is “the train industry?”

In 2000 years we'll be getting infinity train

Why does this video seem like it was written by railroad lobbyists ?

There's a CSX line behind my central Alabama house. Many southbound loaded coal trains, about 110 cars, I've counted them. The northbound empty coal cars number over 200. Limited speed 45

I feel like Alan has some opinions about this video

Other than making overpasses and underpasses, I personally think there probably should be a law relating to train length incase of emergencies people are in while driving on the road.

I think it'd be nice if the trains were shorter but more frequent. Longer trains means longer, more expensive sidings and longer waits on sidings for passenger trains which are often not given priority despite laws declaring such. And considering passenger rail is something that we're trying to get running well again that's no good.

I wonder if part of it is a manpower issue. Now that you can control multiple locomotives (the engines) with one car most of these trains have something like a two-engineer crew controlling two, four, or even more locomotives in one train. If you have more engineers you can have more trains with a single locomotive.

I’m sure it has been said but railroads have been cut in half after deregulation. Basically corporate management sold the land or abandonment simply to cut costs of operations for quick bonuses and fast short term profit. Probably would not be a long haul truck on the road if railroads kept what they once had.

5000 ft train = about 1 mile, at train twice as long = 3 miles? huh?

Well, this is the most bootlicker video I’ve ever seen. Didn’t once to mention the drastic negative impact on train crews, the increase of derailments resulting is hazardous material released, the DECREASE of maintenance, and the overall cost cutting in the industry that is very destructive to the long term viability of the industry.
It’s all about maximizing, short-term profits at the expense of long-term viability, plain and simple. It’s nothing more than shareholders demanding that they make as much profit as possible in the shortest amount of time profitable. It’s not good for anyone except the shareholders.

i love watching people who dont know a thing about trains talk about trains

you should highlight Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties for separating railroad crossings from roads. Improve air quality and decrease traffic jams.

It's fucking PSR that's it, it's killing railroads

in the UK, freight trains are limited by law to no more than 40 cars long, at any one time.

simple answer PSR (persccion scheduald railroading)

People come first - to hell with their profits and the consumer demand! Smaller trains that can meet up somewhere out in the open.

They basically just the railroads companies do whatever the hell they want. I hate this goddamn country.

3k long.. wow that;s small in Australia its 7k long... ha ha

The biggest freight train ever ran in the world was almost 700 cars and weighed over 99,000 tonnes, an insane record that really doesn't need to be beaten. But understand this, a train that's over 150 cars long (some 15,000ft or 2.84miles !!) is impossible to control when something goes wrong. East Palestine was a failed axle bearing which was dragged something like 10+miles before eventually it finally melted & collapsed and de-railed - the effects of which may take over 5 years to show. Big trains might create big money - but it's going to cause havoc and deaths and already has. Even the railroad employees have been screaming this for years, but nobody listens until it's too late. Useless political outfits of all colours and lobbying DOESN'T HELP, because big banks own the railroads now.

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Average intermodal car is NOT 225' long.

It sucks that electrification of rails are next to none. The US could save so much in terms of money and energy and pollution considering they have the biggest rail network in the world.

As a rail fan i like all kinds of locos. But there is nothing more efficient than a pure electric loco.

I am from India and we have already electrified 85 percent of our rail network and on track to reach complete electrification by 2025.

If a developing nation like ours can do it why not the US? Mind you. We are not small either. We have the fourth largest rail network in the world.

Atleast going the hydrogen route would benefit you if you can't electrify it completely.

Because corporate doesn't understand anything about movement.

How's that deregulation working out now, trains too long to stop in time.

Dangerous derailments might be bad eh?

Your facts are incorrect. Average car length is not 225ft! Common sense!

It's PSR is why trains are getting longer. The Class 1 railroads need to get off this ridiculous program & thus one of the reasons why there are more derailments than ever. Right now, NS is under scrutiny with 7 derailments in less than 6 months. 6 of them in Ohio alone

Here in Illinois those BNSF intermodals were running 2.5 miles long more than 20 years ago.

Trains are getting longer because more goods need to be moved, and it's more efficient to move it all at once. If you put a limit on how long trains can legally be, you'd just end up with more trains.

Longest train I ever saw had 137 cars and like 4 engines

As a railfan l'd rather see more short trains than less long trains 😀

Its to save money. I just saved you 6 minutes.

I love to see a long train it, always amazes me how the engines can pull/push all that weight. 💪🏻

This is so interesting ♥️

I'm glad to hear that the train industry is doing well with intermodal. I'd rather have trains than trucks. It would be worth considering getting rid of level crossings though

I wish you had spoken to someone besides an industry representative. I was happy to hear from Ian Jeffries, but clearly there's another side to this story and you're not giving it fair play. Why didn't you talk to the people who brought forward the legislation?

25 million a year to improve rail infrastructure ? That's an error or if real that's ridiculous

There is no way any intermodal car is anywhere near 225 feet long. Shipping containers come in 20, 40, and 53 ft lengths, and rail cars don't hold more than one of the 40 or 53 ft containers. A car to hold a 53 ft container is not going to be 225 ft long.

Just waited 16 mins one train. Once it passed there was another one right behind it that waited for us to cross. Double stacked right outside St.Lo

Tip: crowdsourced rail infrastructure map, including speed limit layer on OpenRailwayMap. Based on OpenStreetMap

Also the big class 1 railroads are stepping on their employees and trying to get longer trains with only 1 person crew to SAVE MONEY.

I think there should be a limit of blocking roads, maybe 5min in cities and 10mins rural, so that the companies can make the trains long, but would then have to either run the trains faster, to pass the crossings quicker, or if they want to remain slow, invest in overpasses.

I Think of trains like snakes, long long creatures on a strict schedule.

Railroads printing money there balling out and have alot of power