7 ms·

Switzerland moved 40% of all freight traffic kilometerd to the rails too, which is really a lot. (https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/10547450/master

Switzerland moved 40% of all freight traffic kilometerd to the rails too, which is really a lot. (https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/10547450/master https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/10547450/maste...)

macspoofing 6y ago
You're going to have to provide some context. I don't know what you're trying to argue.
- ubanholzer 6y ago
  Just wanted to clarify that this is not valid for the whole continent and it would work for western europe to move the traffic on rails.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  A 40% share of tonne-km by rail in Switzerland is similar to the figure for the USA. It's other European countries that have too much road freight. Note that ships are much more used in Europe. https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=1828 https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=1828
throw0101a 6y ago
The passenger modal share for rail in CH is 21%: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage#Passenger_modal_share_for_rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usag... For the US it is 0.3%. Given that CH is land-locked, it's not surprising that freight modal share is 46%, because it has to get inland from a port in some way: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage#Freight_modal_share_for_rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usag... This is higher than the US, but give that 127M Americans (40%) live in counties that are on the coast, it's probably not too hard to get things to them: * https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html * https://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-infographic.html https://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-i... Heck, Los Angeles county has a population (10M) larger than CH (8.5M), and would be the 10th largest state (between NC and MI): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories... So a good number of Americans can get goods pretty direct without long distance inland shipping.
- asdff 6y ago
  Not everyone living along a coast has an appropriate coast to establish a harbor sufficient for shipping. If you live in big sur you still get your crap from china delivered inland from the port of Los Angeles.
  - throw0101a 6y ago
    Where did I say that it was necessary? In the US there are lots of major ports all along the coast, which is where most of the population is. For the Pacific: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Panamax_ports#Pacific_Ocean_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Panamax_ports#Pacific_... And from any of those it's probably not that far to any major population centre. Compare to Switzerland, which has precisely zero ports, and so of course needs rail (and trucks) to get things delivered.
    - dafrie 6y ago
      Nitpicking: Switzerland actually does have three ports that provide, protected by international law, access to the North Sea (via the Rhine) and the Black Sea (via the Rhine–Main–Danube canal). In terms of quantities, about 10% of imports are going through these ports, mainly bulk load. Source (only in german): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizerische_Rheinh%C3%A4fen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizerische_Rheinh%C3%A4fen

macspoofing 6y ago

You're going to have to provide some context. I don't know what you're trying to argue.

ubanholzer 6y ago
Just wanted to clarify that this is not valid for the whole continent and it would work for western europe to move the traffic on rails.
Symbiote 6y ago
A 40% share of tonne-km by rail in Switzerland is similar to the figure for the USA. It's other European countries that have too much road freight. Note that ships are much more used in Europe. https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=1828 https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=1828

throw0101a 6y ago

The passenger modal share for rail in CH is 21%: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage#Passenger_modal_share_for_rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usag... For the US it is 0.3%. Given that CH is land-locked, it's not surprising that freight modal share is 46%, because it has to get inland from a port in some way: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage#Freight_modal_share_for_rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usag... This is higher than the US, but give that 127M Americans (40%) live in counties that are on the coast, it's probably not too hard to get things to them: * https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html * https://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-infographic.html https://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-i... Heck, Los Angeles county has a population (10M) larger than CH (8.5M), and would be the 10th largest state (between NC and MI): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories... So a good number of Americans can get goods pretty direct without long distance inland shipping.

asdff 6y ago
Not everyone living along a coast has an appropriate coast to establish a harbor sufficient for shipping. If you live in big sur you still get your crap from china delivered inland from the port of Los Angeles.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  Where did I say that it was necessary? In the US there are lots of major ports all along the coast, which is where most of the population is. For the Pacific: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Panamax_ports#Pacific_Ocean_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Panamax_ports#Pacific_... And from any of those it's probably not that far to any major population centre. Compare to Switzerland, which has precisely zero ports, and so of course needs rail (and trucks) to get things delivered.
  - dafrie 6y ago
    Nitpicking: Switzerland actually does have three ports that provide, protected by international law, access to the North Sea (via the Rhine) and the Black Sea (via the Rhine–Main–Danube canal). In terms of quantities, about 10% of imports are going through these ports, mainly bulk load. Source (only in german): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizerische_Rheinh%C3%A4fen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizerische_Rheinh%C3%A4fen