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US railroads were once renowned for their engineering feats and ability to move vast numbers of people. Now, they have largely been relegated to moving freight. Conversely, The EU offers a smaller, safer, more advanced railway system that prioritizes passenger rail services. As a result, it moves very little freight, but there are plans to change this in order to lessen road congestion and harmful emissions.
The USA and the EU both struggle with idle shipments and thefts from logistics hubs. This negatively impacts the overall security of cargo. These and related issues have significant economic and operational implications for supply chains and their operators.
To ensure the safe, timely transportation of goods, shippers must understand the differences between railways in Europe and America.
Railways in the USA
The USA has the longest rail network in the world. Approximately 140,000 miles (225,000km) are dedicated to freight rail and 20,000 miles (32,000km) to passenger rail. The WEF ranks this rail density as 48th and efficiency as 12th. The rail network is mostly privately owned and is responsible for 40% of the long-distance ton-miles of freight in the USA per year.
The ASCE 2021 gave American railroad infrastructure a B rating compared to Roads, Ports, and Aviation (D/B-/D+). The ASCE also noted rail companies had spent about $780 billion between 1980-2022 to improve infrastructure, increase safety, and improve service. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill also aims to provide $66 billion over a five-year period. However, it did not specifically earmark any spending dedicated to developing much needed high-speed rail projects.
These investments belie other significant issues facing the rail industry. Passenger rail services, largely operated by Amtrak, are chronically underinvested with the ASCE estimating a repair backlog of $45.2 billion. Additionally, the busiest section of passenger rail, the Northeast Corridor, faced 328,000 delay minutes in 2019. This is equivalent to 700 train trips due to infrastructure-related issues.
The USA rail network also features a significant number of derailments. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics recorded 54,539 derailments between 1990-2021, or an average of 1,704 per year compared to 500 per year across the EU.
The derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, 2023 ignited public debate on railways. This debate focused on the environmental impact of derailments, safety of the rail network, and pay and conditions for its workers. This last issue came to the fore in 2022 during a dispute between rail companies and labour unions which led to a near countrywide strike projected to cost up to $2 billion per day. The crisis was averted by intervention from the federal government with President Biden signing a bill on December 2nd shortly before the Ohio derailment.
Issues with infrastructure including delays and derailments alongside the race of manufacturers to return to pre-Covid levels of production have led to increasing shipments of goods sitting idle more frequently and for longer periods of time. Train carriages not in motion present an appealing target for opportunistic theft. These thefts notably occur in key logistics hubs, often connected to local ports.
The end of 2022 saw a surge in cargo thefts, with rail theft accounting for 6.7% of all recorded cargo theft in Q4 across the USA. The estimated total of all cargo theft in 2022 was $223 million across Canada and the United States with 1,778 incidents voluntarily reported. California led the way with 417 events followed by Texas with 223 and Florida with 153.
In 2013, the FBI began publishing cargo theft data as part of its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Figures from 2019 showed 721 incidents for a cost of $139 million across 27 states and the District of Columbia. However, participation in the UCR Program is voluntary, and the figures pale in comparison to the FBI’s 2006 estimate that cargo theft cost the USA $15-30 billion per year.
EU railway networks and rail operations
The rail network in the EU is just over half the size of the USA rail system with 94,000 miles (151,000km). The European rail business model is almost diametric to the USA. It prioritizes passenger rail services over private companies and freight, with many railroads nationalized with public ownership of rail infrastructure. Passenger trains generate approximately 79% of European train miles.
High-speed rail also features more prominently than in the USA. Some examples of these railways include Eurostar, TGV in France, and ICE in Germany.
The EU moves approximately 5.4% of its freight via railways in comparison to 67.9% moved via maritime and 24.6% via road. However, the EU has determined to reverse this trend. It plans to double the share of freight shipped by rail by 2030. The goal is for this move to reduce CO2 emissions and ease traffic congestion of roadways.
The TEN-T initiative, revised and updated in April 2023, envisions that at least eleven rail freight corridors across the EU will be integrated into the official nine European Transport Corridors that form the TEN-T core network. Other rail changes include the extension of four Corridors to Moldova and Ukraine with plans for Belarus and Russia removed from the core network plan. The CEF has committed €25.8 billion for infrastructure funding between 2021-2027, which includes approximately 67 TEN-T rail projects.
Despite long-term infrastructure spending and planning, the rail network in the EU faces considerable challenges which impact commercial freight. Europe is a smaller and multinational geographic area than North America. As a result, it faces different obstacles than the USA.
The geography of the EU means that rail freight moves an average of 100-200 miles (160-321km) compared to 400-600 miles (643-965km) on the east coast or 1,100-1,800 miles (1,770-2,896km) on the west coast of the USA. This increases costs borne by shippers, which are much higher in the EU than the USA per ton per train. Thus, rail is less attractive when compared to the lower costs to ship goods via maritime or road instead.
These issues are compounded with other variances including train technical details. In the EU, the permitted length of a freight train is 700 meters (2,300ft) and the maximum length of a train including its locomotive and lengthening can be 750 meters (2,460ft). In comparison, freight trains in the US average around 2,000 meters (6,600ft) but can exceed 6,000 meters (19,700ft).
Train cars in the EU also handle less weight than their American counterparts, with the average EU car handling 92 metric tonnes/202,825 lbs compared to 130 metric tonnes/286,000 lbs in the USA. The vertical height of cars also varies with EU cars approximately being 30% lower at 4.5-4.8 meters (15-16ft) from the rail compared to newer cars in the USA which can be up to 7.01 meters (23ft).
Another issue includes regional variance in AC and DC voltages. They can be anywhere from 750-25,000 volts, signaling systems, track gauge, and loading gauge. These create bottlenecks at national borders as trains, unlike other forms of transport, are required to stop and adapt to differing infrastructure requirements.
Unfortunately, all the issues above are complicated by language. Unlike, the aviation and maritime sectors, rail does not have a set international language.
The April 2023 revision to the TEN-T initiative aims to improve efficiency by continuing to work towards common technical and operational rules and standards. It also calls for staff certification, digital and interoperable passenger information and ticketing, and the use of a single EU-wide language for cross-border rail transport. The stated goal is for trains to cross internal EU borders in less than 15 minutes by the end of 2030.
As in the USA, infrastructure problems and delays lead to increasing amounts of shipments sitting idle more frequently and for longer periods of time. Thefts notably occur in key logistics hubs, often connected to local ports.
Although the EU only moves approximately 5.4% of its freight via railways, it does move 67.9% via maritime. Thus, railway lines connected to port infrastructure present appealing bottlenecks to would-be thieves.
Overall, theft of cargo from road and rail is estimated to cost a combined €8 billion per year across the EU. Railways are also beset with thefts specifically targeting rail lines themselves, including the theft of metal, fencing, signaling cables, and overhead power lines. The theft of these materials is also greater when considering the knock-on cost of freight and passenger delays.
An overview of the differences between rails in the EU and USA
Although there are several notable similarities, rail systems in the USA are vastly different from those in the EU.
The USA possesses the longest rail network in the world, but it is disproportionately dedicated to moving freight at the expense of passengers. It is largely privately owned and has received substantial investment. However, it suffers from frequent derailments and rail workers are unhappy with their pay and conditions. Rates of rail theft are also observably increasing.
As a whole, the EU transports significantly less cargo via rail than the US. But the EU faces more substantial challenges in terms of geopolitics and technical and infrastructure differences at national borders. While rail theft appears to be less prevalent than in the USA, it still remains substantial.
Understanding these differences will help shippers better recognize risk when transporting goods via rail. To have a fuller picture of threats, they should also understand the unique challenges faced by EU and US roads. In short, the more information a shipper or 3PL has about these different modes, the better prepared they’ll be to securely transport goods, wherever those goods are sent.
