Rail Transport
The rail transportation subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector. Industries in the Rail Transportation subsector provide rail transportation of passengers and cargo using railroad rolling stock.
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History & Future
Future
Passenger and freight activity will more than double by 2050. Such growth is a token of social and economic progress, but it carries with it greater energy demand and increased CO2 emissions and atmospheric pollutants. A greater reliance on rail has the potential to cut that growth. The future of transportation involves moving into new, smarter sources of energy, modes of transport, and physical and technological infrastructure to support these transportation innovations. Three common themes in transportation innovation are: innovative technology. electrification
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Railways were to the mid-19th century what freeways and airports were to the 20th. That is, they were potentially very efficient means of moving goods and people, they were enormously expensive to construct and typically required government involvement (whether directly or indirectly through loans). They were the mark of an up-to-date economy and country (or colony). Railways also didn’t suffer from cold weather as waterways did — they offered the potential of year-round service, and they could, theoretically, go wherever they were needed, unlike canal systems which depended on water routes.
