Freight Railroads in Today's Economy
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Freight railroads play an important role in the United States' economy. The American freight rail system is considered the best in the world. In terms of ton-miles, railroads annually move more than 25% of the United States' freight and connect businesses with each other across the country and with markets overseas. They also directly contribute tens of billions of dollars each year to the economy through wages, purchases, retirement benefits, and taxes.
Read more about this topic: Railway Stations In The United States
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“Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large one; for the larger the load, the greater will be the profit upon profit.”
—Hesiod (c. 8th century B.C.)
“Shall the railroads govern the country, or shall the people govern the railroads? Shall the interest of railroad kings be chiefly regarded, or shall the interest of the people be paramount?”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I myself smoke, but my wife asked me to speak today on the harmfulness of tobacco, so what can I do? If it’s tobacco, then let it be tobacco.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)