A Route Map for Policymakers
The report builds on the main objective in a series of sections. First, the report includes an analysis of the freight sector in general, looking at freight volumes, major commodities, fuel consumption, and distances, all with breakdowns between different transportation modes. The intention of a general freight sector analysis is to establish the context in which the report then discusses the value of rail in the freight sector. There is a short discussion on a modal shift towards rail, outlining the areas in which rail can take on freight traffic from other modes. The goal of the discussion on mode shift is to show that rail is a competitive, reliable, and safe mode of transport, especially for long-distance, heavy, and low-value freight (although it is important to note that rail is an option for high-value intermodal goods).
The report includes a section on resiliency, which is defined in the context of infrastructure resilience as “ability to reduce the magnitude or duration of disruptive events, by anticipating, adapting to and/or recovering from a potentially disruptive event.” Improving infrastructure, transportation planning, data collection, and fostering innovation are all components of building resilience in the freight network. The report then includes a section on efficiency, specifically comparing greenhouse gas emissions between modes, fuel efficiency, and fuel alternatives in the rail industry.