CSX train ad - 423 mpg?

You've probably seen the CSX ad where they ask "What can a car that gets 50 miles on a gallon of fuel do for the environment?" The car then drives up a ramp into a waiting railroad car.

The ad continues "Not nearly as much as the car that's carrying it. Our trains can move one ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of fuel".

www.aar.org...

That's incredible fuel efficiency, no? How can a train accomplish that feat?

It's probably just mathematics...

I found this:

Big Car Economics

It states

Orders for high-capacity covered hopper cars and gondolas came in the wake of a finding that there's "an economic benefit" to increasing axle loads beyond the old 100-ton-per-car maximum.

So if each train car carries 100ton, or 200,000 pounds, how many "cars" could each Train Car carry? Then the train could get miserable mileage and still work out to the aforementioned figure..

I HATE math, but it seems logical to me..

Semper

Modern trains are diesel-electric. They have diesel generators that drive the traction motors. Besides what mathematical means they use, that would be a factor in fuel efficiency.

Diesel-Electric Locomotive


[edit on 2009/1/28 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by jsobecky
That's incredible fuel efficiency, no? How can a train accomplish that feat?

Simple. Large load spread out over hundreds of axles. The ground supports the weight, and the loco just has to overcome the rolling resistance, which is most economical the longer the haul of a train is.

It is the same principal as if you were carrying a person piggy back. Two people walking will exert more energy than one person carrying another. Why? Because part of their load is distributed through the bones. You only have to exert the energy to get the thing moving.

Trains are incredibly efficient compared to OTR freight. It's a conspiracy in itself that oil companies have all but eliminated rail freight as it used to be.

When cheap oil is gone, you better go back to rail.

While the technology exists to run trains on other forms of fuel, diesel trains use diesel simply because it is more fuel efficient than gasoline. A diesel locomotive uses more than one gallon (3.75 liters) of fuel per minute, even just pulling a few cars. Therefore, any fuel efficiencies that can be realized become paramount. a BIG TWIST