Carrying Freight on High-Speed Rail Lines

Abstract

Under the current economic climate it is expected that any new high-speed rail line in the United States would be constructed as a public/private partnership, requiring substantial private investment, and thus the expectation of reasonable profits. To date, proposed high-speed rail lines have failed to attract sufficient investment to create any new starts, in great part due to the conclusion that these systems would not likely cover their capital and operating costs and also provide reasonable profit for investors. Studies of the economic potential of U.S. high-speed rail lines have commonly considered them as passenger carriers only, depending solely on ridership as a source of revenue. Yet it is likely that significant revenue potential exists for carrying higher value freight as well—perhaps enough to substantially improve the economic viability of certain high-speed operations. Some basic technical aspects of carrying freight on high-speed rail lines are presented, along with an analysis to estimate the quantity of freight that may be technically practical, and thus potentially economically viable, for a high-speed train to carry.