HSR Freight / Logistics

Perpetual Demand

The United States Census Bureau predicts that the American population will reach 420 million by 2050, a trend that will overwhelm our nation’s transportation infrastructure.

Current estimates suggest that overall freight demand will double over the next 40 years from 15 billion tons today to 30 billion tons. The number of trucks on the road is also expected to double. Already under unsustainable strain, the nation’s freight transportation infrastructure and highways will face even greater challenges as the total volume of freight increases.

Extensive infrastructure expansion, such as high-speed rail (HSR), is critical if rail transportation is to help mitigate problems associated with rising fuel costs, crowded highways, and greenhouse gas emissions. Population growth and development in the U.S. have made our nation increasingly reliant on rail and highway infrastructure to transport people and freight.

Clearly, a strong, efficient freight transportation system is vital to the nation’s economy. Our already-strained and out-dated railways must be upgraded to handle the projected increases in freight shipping to relieve congestion on our highways.

We, at Ameri Metro, are focusing on the following means to create efficient freight transportation:

  • Increase port capacity to increase our nation’s ability to distribute goods, making us more competitive in the global economy.
  • Develop larger, rail-served, inland distribution centers that will encourage more efficient movement of goods and create more capacity at ports.
  • Permit increased volume and speed of inland heavy freight, allowing inland distribution points to expand into larger, national service hubs and promote economic growth.

Economics & Jobs Growth

Every dollar invested in infrastructure expansion will create jobs and help grow the nation’s economy.

Ameri Metro will create almost 20,000 immediate jobs during its construction phase as a result of the work needed to raise bridges, increase tunnel clearances, and build new terminal rail corridors. In addition, more than 70,000 long-term jobs will be required over a 30-year period to support and maintain the movement of freight containers on rail cars to transfers at new facilities.

Safety & Service

Ameri Metro will expand and improve freight rail service by building the rail lines, train sets, and ancillary facilities necessary to alleviate freight bottlenecks in the Midwest that currently cause delays for companies and consumers shipping or receiving freight from West Coast ports. The project will reduce freight transit times substantially between ports on the West Coast and major consumption centers in the East by enabling traffic to flow more efficiently through the Chicago hub.

Rail route expansion between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest markets will also free up highway capacity by creating an additional option for transporting freight. By facilitating the movement of freight by rail, Ameri Metro will reduce congestion on our nation’s highways, reducing truck miles traveled by millions of miles, thereby making highway travel safer and more efficient.

The Ameri Metro rail system will increase U.S. railway efficiency, helping passenger and freight trains stay on schedule and enabling states to realize savings in millions in safety and preventive maintenance  cost.

Environment

The Ameri Metro rail system is an efficient and environmentally friendly form of surface transportation. The Ameri Metro vision is designed to create significant long-term environmental benefits by strengthening our nation’s freight rail system in the following ways:

  • By making rail routes accessible to freight trains, Ameri Metro will convert billions of highway truck miles to freight rail travel.
  • Ameri Metro will help save nearly 2 billion gallons of fuel and eliminate 20 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
  • Facilities built or expanded by Ameri Metro will feature modern, high-technology operating methods such as electric crane systems to ensure that each facility is safe and environmentally friendly.
  • The environmental benefits of the Ameri Metro vision are consistent with policies/goals of environmental organizations.
  • The Ameri Metro vision will build upon existing environmental benefits of freight rail transportation including the following:
    • A train can move a ton of freight nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
    • On average, railroads are three or more times more fuel-efficient than alternatives, and with constant innovation freight rail becomes more efficient every day.
    • The EPA estimates that moving freight by rail emits three times less nitrogen oxide and particulates per ton-mile than highway transportation.
    • Shifting 10 percent of long-haul freight from the highway to the railroad would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 million tons.

Valuable Benefits

States stand to realize valuable benefits from the Ameri Metro vision. New jobs, increased tax collection, improved railway reliability, and the diversion of heavy trucks from crowded commuter highways will lead to reduced emissions and highway maintenance costs and improved road safety. Heavily utilized passenger rail services in urban areas should also experience increased reliability as a result of less-congested rail lines.

Ameri Metro will design and effect a new intermodal route structure that will play an extensive role in providing the necessary capacity, facilities, and equipment for a highly efficient, environmentally friendly advanced rail service.