In addition to shipping, A LOT of passenger rail travels over freight lines. I've been reading stories about how the Chicago-area regional rails were going to be stopped due to the strike[1], and most of Amtrak outside the Northeast Corridor[2]. It's a good thing that strike was adverted, because in addition to freight, there were going to be a lot of people stuck as well.
On the green front, I've always been intrigued by the idea of using nuclear power to propel MASSIVE Snowpiercer-esque trains around the nation in place of existing fossil fuel trains and long-haul trucking precisely for the environmental reasons you identified above. I need to do more reading into the history and feasibility, but that's where my mind wanders when we start talking about energy and rail.
In addition to shipping, A LOT of passenger rail travels over freight lines. I've been reading stories about how the Chicago-area regional rails were going to be stopped due to the strike[1], and most of Amtrak outside the Northeast Corridor[2]. It's a good thing that strike was adverted, because in addition to freight, there were going to be a lot of people stuck as well.
On the green front, I've always been intrigued by the idea of using nuclear power to propel MASSIVE Snowpiercer-esque trains around the nation in place of existing fossil fuel trains and long-haul trucking precisely for the environmental reasons you identified above. I need to do more reading into the history and feasibility, but that's where my mind wanders when we start talking about energy and rail.
[1] https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/metra-updates-customers-on-4-line-closures-impending-rail-strike/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/business/amtrak-long-distance-trains.html