There are no prizes awarded for guessing which American President said “You go to China, they have trains that go 300 miles an hour. We have trains that go ‘Chug, chug, chug.’. President Trump isn’t normally known to be humble but when it comes to rail freight it’s often Europeans who brag about the success of America on his behalf. 40% of freight is transported by rail on the other side of the Atlantic whereas rail’s share is 18% in Europe. Is there something we could learn from our star spangled neighbours? Or is this 40% an example of where we should be cautious of blindly applying value judgments to impressive figures?

Share of freight on rail in the US

Share of freight on rail in the EU

Issue: The EU is not always united in diversity

50% of rail freight crosses borders in Europe. This is a problem if you consider that European infrastructure was not designed uniformly. A lot of the basic technology dates back to when it was considered undesirable for German trains to be able to run on French tracks. Therefore, we have a network where tracks and technologies differ across borders. America doesn’t have this problem. With one track width across the entire country, it’s far more unified than Europe so trains can easily operate across state borders.

This flexibility is also due to the fact that US freight trains are all diesel powered. The situation is very different in Europe where over 70% of activity takes place on electric infrastructure. Voltages and the size of pantographs (the metal poles above a train that connect it to the overhead wires) differ between countries so bottlenecks emerge at borders. The EU initiatives to create a Single European Railway Area and the Rail Freight Corridors programme has improved this situation but the average commercial speed of freight trains in the EU remains very low (around 18 km/h on many international routes).

Recommendation: Focus on quality rather than quantity

But this European ‘electric issue’ should actually be seen as a benefit. With virtually no electric infrastructure for rail, American trains are vulnerable to oil prices and the use of rail has far less of an impact in reducing transport emissions.

Moreover, coal is a traditional customer of rail as it’s too heavy to be transported by road and often to places where the final destination can only feasibly be reached by rail (e.g. industrial factories and ports). As a result, coal accounts for 44% of American rail tonne-km, and rail carries more than 70% of coal transported in the States. In Europe, coal accounts for 13% of rail tonne-km. This makes US rail freight much dirtier than European rail freight as it contributes more to burning fossil fuels. We must look at what’s being transported before we blindly celebrate rail’s market share as something good for the climate.

Share of American rail tonne-km used for coal

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It’s also important to stress the fact that there are other uncontrollable factors at play in America’s 40% rail freight share such as the geography of the nation and the impact this has on freight movements. The US has twice the landmass of the EU but a coastline that’s three times smaller. These conditions naturally favour rail freight as there is almost no way the US can use ships instead of trains to transport large quantities across its territory. Rail’s main competitors in Europe for large quantities are ships and barges.

On top of that, the share of passenger rail transport is very low in the US. As a result rail freight transport has almost no competition for access to the infrastructure. The situation is very different in Europe where 79% of train-km are passenger trains and priority is rightly given to them for track access.

The length of trains in America is something that we can learn from in Europe though. Trains are up to three kilometres long in America while they’re less than one kilometre long in Europe due to safety restrictions and infrastructure limitations. Longer trains are more economically attractive to operate, even though they’re less flexible in terms of when and where they can go. Rail freight is three times more expensive in many parts of Europe than the US partly due to train lengths. Ensuring that EU infrastructure is able for longer trains and allowing for such trains to be operated could improve rail’s competitive position vis-a-vis road transport.


While the share of freight carried by rail was comparable in the two continents during the 1950s, the two diverged in the 1960s and rail’s share of freight had increased to 38% by 2000 in the USA but fallen to 19% in Europe. Although some things could be learnt from American rail, like their harmonious railway infrastructure and longer trains, it is better to have Europe’s electric and passenger-dominant market. It is far from perfect but plays an important role in decarbonising transport.

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