423 Miles per Gallon!

Image by Evan Hamilton via Flickr

That is some kind of fuel efficiency! Let me ask, what would you pay to get that kind of gas mileage? What if instead of higher cost it just meant that your trip takes longer? That is about 20 times what I currently get. Okay, I have a bunch of kids so we drive a van, but that is still 10 times a car with really great gas mileage. Sure you can get double or even 4 to 5 times the gas mileage by car pooling, but that is a bit inconvenient. Hybrids get you closer, but they are a little expensive.

So how do I get this 423 miles per gallon?

Well, you don’t. That is actually gas mileage per ton for the CSX rail-line. Still, it is a pretty fair comparison. The average car is one ton or less. For a car to compete with that it would have to get 400 to 1000 miles per gallon fully loaded. It makes you stop and think why are we not using trains more? Sure having to load everything on a train is inconvenient but if you are going more than 100 miles it is totally worth it. The same thing is true for passenger trains. Half filled trains are still better than full cars.

As for speed and convenience, if you are shipping cargo, just live with it. It would make sense, though, for trains to be made where they can handle the standard length (53′) truck trailer. Then you could use trucks to handle “the last mile” more fuel efficiently. For passengers, you can use a loading car. After loading, the car can then be accelerated on a side track and joined to the back of a passing train. Passengers stopping at the next stop could stay in or move to the last car, and those who are going further down the line can move forward in the train after the loading car links up. Then at the next station the back car drops off to be replaced with a loading car. This keeps the train moving, making travel faster. Last mile for passangers can be solved using Personal Rapid Transit.

Sure all this costs a lot of money up front, but so does drilling new wells and building (restarting) new refineries. In the long run this will be worth it.

Related posts:

1. Travel Pics 4: Not Bad For Smog Country
2. How to get gasoline for 49 cents per gallon for a week
3. What I Learned from Airplanes
4. Let my people talk
5. We are moving next weekend!