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[OM] Re: Train tracks: (was # 232)

Subject: [OM] Re: Train tracks: (was # 232)
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:39:19 -0700
> From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> To be clear, the US still has a fairly extensive rail network

"Fairly extensive" is pretty vague. Without having actual numbers to  
back me up, I'll bet it's a tiny fraction of total land transport,  
compared with the rest of the world.

Wait a second, I *do* have some actual numbers, but they don't  
exactly back me up:
kilometers per $ of GDP:
        #1 Mongolia
        ...
        #101: USA, just ahead of Lebanon
        http://tinyurl.com/265d7p

Of course, statistics are notorious for showing whatever you want.  
Note that if a country's GDP (denominator) is zero, one millimeter of  
rail (numerator) would give it an infinite score.

Here's another one: kilometers per capita:
        #1: Australia
        #2: Canada
        ...
        #16: USA, just behind Argentina and Hungary
        http://tinyurl.com/23nxn7

And for you red/white/blue types, here's another: by total weight- 
distance:
        #1: USA, not far ahead of China
        http://tinyurl.com/295zh7

So it's safe to say the US rail system is not closely coupled with US  
GDP or population, but it does ship the heaviest goods the furthest.

(Stat wonks will LOVE the site referenced in the URLs above.)

Requisite Oly content: my dad won first place in his club's photo  
contest in 1998 with a shot of a locomotive taken with an Olympus  
D-600L -- the first time a digital photo had been entered. No one  
suspected, and they immediately made a separate category, so the  
filmies wouldn't have to compete with the bit-twiddlers.

:::: Real peace in a petroleum-fueled world means rejecting petroleum  
dependence in all possible ways. -- Jan Lundberg ::::
:::: Jan Steinman (a fossil-fuel-free zone) <http:// 
www.VeggieVanGogh.com> ::::


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