Indeed- the railroads made a strong effort to make it profitable till the early 60's but they couldn't do it. The late 40's and early 50's was the best it got. the only reason passenger rail works in Europe is because the distances are much shorter and that the gov subsidizes rail massively. But it must be admitted that nothing moves people and freight like rail does.
But it's not the most efficient: that title belongs to barges. And to give them it's due, most barges are running on powerplants built inthe 60's. EMD at one time was trying to convince barge tug owners to upgrade to more modern fuel efficient powerplants, which will stretch the lead they have even more.
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Member of the Bofors fan club! The M1911 of automatic cannon.
Proud fan(atic) of the CV90 Series.
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