Comparison of external costs of rail and truck freight transportation

In this article we estimate external costs for four representative types of freight trains. For each type of freight train, we estimate three general types of external costs and compare them with the private costs experienced by railroad companies. The general types of external costs include: accide nts (fatalities, injuries, and property damage); emissions lair pollution a nd greenhouse gases); and noise. Resulting private and external costs are c ompared with those of freight trucking, estimated in an earlier article. Ra il external costs are 0.24 cent to 0.25 cent (US) per ton-mile, well less t han the 1.11 cent for freight trucking, but external costs for rail general ly constitute a larger amount relative to private costs, 9.3-22.6%, than is the case for trucking, 13.2%. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.