Why aren't trains used more for cargo movement?

Someone asked me recently, “Why is it that the railway isn’t used more for cargo movement? Why are semis preferred these days, it seems, rather than more rail loads?”

Freight transportation has been at the heart of Idaho’s economy since the beginning. The earliest freight was transported by pack strings into mining regions such as Orofino, the Boise Basin, and the Montana gold mines. These pack strings were the only source of supply for these mining areas and carried everything from shovels to chickens. Unfortunately, their arrival was sporadic, often resulting in shortages of essential supplies such as flour. Prices were sky high for in-demand items.

Pack trains quickly gave way to freight wagons once suitable wagon routes were established. The freight wagons were the semitrucks of their day. These huge wagons were typically hitched to each other in a train and pulled by a team of mules or horses. While they could transport more supplies in a single trip, they were slow-moving affairs travelling only about a dozen miles per day. Still, these freighters were able to bring larger amounts of supplies to mining camps, which alleviated some of the inflationary pressure on common goods.

All of that changed when the first railroads appeared in Idaho. Freight could be loaded in a box car, shipped to its destination, and unloaded in just a couple of days. Moreover, locomotives could pull much more weight than a team of mules. Finally, because trains ran daily, the market could more quickly respond to shortages.

Still, there were places where the railroad had not reached yet, and freight wagons were still used to get supplies over those final miles. That system remained until the invention of the internal combustion engine, and trucks that took the place of freight wagons.

While pack strings and freight wagons have disappeared, railroads remain an important part of the freight industry, as do box trucks and semis. Railroads are cost-efficient for large heavy loads carried over long distances, but require significant time to load and unload and cannot make it to every destination. 

In contrast, semis are efficient for medium distance loads but require some time to unload and can usually only deliver to sites with a dock. Box trucks are efficient for smaller, short-distance loads and can often deliver to locations without a dock (by using a lift or ramp).

To put it in perspective, if you're a car manufacturer and want to ship 500 cars to the west coast, a railroad is your most cost-effective solution. Once the cars arrive at the destination railyard, they are loaded onto semis for delivery to individual dealerships or to a holding yard.

The economy for semis and box trucks became much more competitive during the period of road and Interstate-building following WWII. With better roads and faster transit times, trucking became more economical and able to compete with railroads for shorter hauls. In addition, many medium sized businesses found it more efficient to buy a couple box trucks to handle their own freight needs between cities. Later, larger companies and farms bought semis to further reduce their costs and to reduce transit times since they only had one customer to deliver to.

Also, prior to the 1970s, most companies had a warehouse near the railroad with a spur that ran down the alley behind the warehouse so individual companies could offload railroad cars directly into their warehouses. However, strict regulation in the 1970s nearly killed the railroads. At that time, trucking became much more prevalent, with many companies abandoning their railroad warehouses in favor of having freight directly delivered by trucks to their businesses. Long-haul trucking also became common during that period as companies searched for a more economical and reliable way to move freight across the country.

Deregulation of the railroads in the 1980s helped the railroad industry regain profitability, but they have never been able to regain short-haul traffic and only some of the medium-haul traffic. The economy of the nation's highways and Interstates keeps trucking competitive for shorter hauls and mixed-freight loads being delivered to multiple locations along the route. Similarly, trucking from one city to a nearby city is most often handled by box trucks.

The difference in shipping times from 1863 to today is astounding. Ordering a book to be delivered to the Boise Basin in 1864 was an exercise in patience. First, the mail had to be delivered to the book publisher. Even at their fastest, that would take weeks. Then the book was shipped back, which took just as long. The cost of sending and receiving this mail was much higher than the cost of the book itself. Compare that to Amazon today, which can ship you a book in just a couple of days after you hit the “Buy Now” button!

Whether by railroad, semitruck, box truck, or cargo aircraft, transportation remains at the very heart of our economy in Idaho. These different methods of moving freight through Idaho work together to get products to their final destinations with minimum cost and at the fastest possible speed. It is an amazing system that has grown up over more than 160 years.