Go Rail said that in South Dakota in 2019, “Moving freight by rail prevented 1.46 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 287,000 cars off the road or planting 22.2 million trees.”Ĭarbon Brief cited an International Energy Alliance study that said “If all services performed by railways were instead carried by planes, cars and trucks, transport-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would be 1.2bn tonnes of CO2-equivalent (GtCO2e) per year higher.” Agriculture industry runs with rail Department of Transportation federal report. Trucking is the single largest contributor to freight-related air pollution nationally, according to the “Beyond Traffic 2045” U.S. Other benefits of rail transport include less greenhouse emissions than from other transport such as struck. If you are a taxpayer in South Dakota, a train that holds you up in traffic could also be saving you money on road construction. Railroad can help with that.Ī move to increase freight transportation would improve the safety of roads but also the conditions, Weber wrote in Popular Science.įewer trucks means less wear on roads and in populated areas, less congestion on roads, according to multiple state transportation plans and studies.
Companies are looking for ways to reduce shipping costs and find other efficiencies, he said.
Lambert said South Dakota is at a crossroads. They are critical to the agriculture industry. They contribute to the economic development of towns and cities. Why spend money on projects on a system that carries less than 40% of the goods in the state?ĭokken said railroads are a vital part of the state’s freight transportation. Lambert said the Mitchell area is fortunate to have Watco as the owner because it has a history of rail improvement in states where it owns rail systems. South Dakota is one of the states which has invested in short line rail lines whether its through state ownership and repairing lines or working with operators on improvements. “With limited annual revenues, these rail operators may struggle to meet current and future freight demand,” the 2045 study said.
Department of Transportation, said many short line railroads don’t have the money to make investments to keep the lines in good repair. A short line may also link to a line in Iowa to help transport grain or ethanol or other products.Īlthough short line railroads are part of the overall rail system, the U.S. We do prioritize projects based on access to other markets.,” Dokken said.įor example, a short line in South Dakota may link to a BNSF line in eastern South Dakota that travels to the southern border. “It makes sense to take advantage of markets that have access. is still in the midst of a shortage of truck drivers, according to multiple sources including the Journal of Commerce, rail remains a vital piece of freight shipping. Tonnage was projected to increase by 23.5% to 137 million tons by 2045. Trucks hauled the majority of freight in 2015 with 111.1 million tons, according to the state. That was projected to increase to 25.2 million tons by 2045. In 2015, 17.1 million tons of freight was moved by rail in South Dakota, according to the state’s 2017 freight plan. One grain railcar can hold up to 287,000 pounds, including the car, said Jack Dokken, the administrator for the office of aeronautics, railroad and transit, for the South Dakota Department of Transportation.
TRANSLOADER IN SOUTH DAKOTA DRIVER
(KELO) - The train a driver is waiting for at a crossing could be carrying ethanol which ends up in South Dakota service station, cement products for a neighbor’s landscaping project or a father-in-law’s corn to a processor.Įach day, trains carry thousands of pounds of goods across hundreds of miles of railroad track in South Dakota.
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