Re: Rail vs Road

[David <DAVID@NMIT.EDU.VIC.AU>]

Douglas CLIFFORD wrote:
> 
> In  "Network Rail" Vol 35 No 6. Dec/Jan 1998 p.8  Professor Ian Lowe
> (Griffith University) is stated to have said "...the subsidy for the
> average 20 tonne articulated truck is $20,000 - 30,000 a year...Road
> damage is 3 million times that of a 1 tonne passenger vehicle
> (according to the 5th Power Law effect of axle loads").  Could some
> one please confirm this rather extraordinary ratio.
> 
Well if one train traded in its steel tyres for rubber, how much money
is lost to these subsidies of the road and how much extra manpower &
pollution is created - when it is not needed with one loco pulling the
equivilant of 30 or more trucks etc ?????