436 Ton-Miles/Gallon
That's right! The national average for all freight movement by rail in the United States calculates out to an average of moving one ton 436 miles on each gallon of fuel! This is based on 2007 data and reflects a 3.1% increase over 2006.
The nation's seven major railroad companies reported the following for 2007:
- Moving 1,770,545,245,000 ton-miles of freight
- Consuming 4,062,025,082 gallons of diesel fuel (including freight trains and trains in switching yards, but excluding passenger trains)
The average works out to be 435.88 ton-miles per gallon of fuel.
