FREIGHT RAILROADS: CRITICAL TO THE ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT

Both the United States and the State of New York are dependent upon a safe and efficient transportation system to move people and goods. In today's global economy, many of the things we use, as well as the things we make to sell to others, must be transported by the nation's freight transportation system.

In New York State and the nation, that system has undergone significant changes over the course of our history. Originally, it was focused on our waterways, then to our railroads and more recently on our highway systems. Even so, today's rail freight system still plays a critical role in moving freight across our nation and state.

According to a recent report entitled "Transportation - Invest in America: Freight - Rail Bottom Line Report", prepared by the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO):

• 40% of intercity freight ton-miles are handled by rail.
• Rail freight moves over 600 miles on an average trip, while the average truck trip is about 245 miles.
• 92 billion truck-vehicle miles of travel would be added to the nation's highway system without our rail freight system.
• This additional truck traffic would cost federal, state and local transportation agencies an additional $64 billion over the next 20 years.
• If all rail freight were shifted to trucks, it would cost shippers an additional $69 billion per year - or $1.4 trillion over the next 20 years.
• Rail freight provides shippers with cost-effective transportation, especially for heavy and bulky commodities.
• Rail is also a preferred mode for hazardous materials shipments because of its positive safety record.
• Rail freight can be a critical factor in retaining and attracting manufacturing industries (and jobs) that are central and regional economies.
• Rail freight carries 16% percent of the nations' cross-border trade.
• Intermodal freight-rail service is critical to the global competitiveness of U.S. industries.
• Rail freight is fuel-efficient and generates less air pollution per ton-mile than trucking.
• Rail freight is vital to military mobilization and provides critically needed transportation system redundancy in national (and state) emergencies.
• The rail industry today is stable, productive and competitive, with enough revenue and profit to operate, but not enough to replenish its infrastructure quickly or grow rapidly.

One of the report's "Bottom Line" conclusions is that:

Within New York State, three dozen freight railroads serve virtually every part of the state. They transport a wide variety of goods, from automobiles, chemicals, minerals and energy products, to agricultural grains, food fertilizers and feeds, lumber, paper and other forest products, as well as steel, stone and other aggregates.

RONY's member Railroads transport:

• Over 1.2 billion tons of goods annually
• Over 20 million annual carloads of goods
• Freight over nearly 83,000 route miles

Within New York State, more than 70 million tons of freight is transported by rail annually, in over 1.7 million carloads, on 3,700 route miles. RONY members also employ over 3,700 individuals and serve thousands of businesses, including key employers in each region of the state, such as:

Agway	American Rock Salt	Anheuser Bush
Bombardier	Bush Industries	Bush Industries
Cargill	Corning Industries	Combined Container Industries
Dupont	Eastman Kodak Co.	Ford Motor
Finch Pryun	General Electric	General Motors
International Steel Group	Keywell	Kraft General Foods
Lackawanna Products	Niagara Energy	NRG Energy Incorporated
Occidental Chemical	Olin Corporation	Owens Corning
Para Gas	Republic Technologies	Schneider National
Seneca Foods	Southern Container Corporation	TTA
United Parcel Service		Waste Management of NY, Inc.

Without rail freight service, energy, goods and services in New York would cost more, air pollution would increase, and the highways would be more congested than they are presently.