Trains Still Relevant In 21st Century Economy Essay Example

Introduction

The rail service created Kingsport in the 20th century, and now it has established the Model City in the recent 21st century. Even though the railway system is an old transportation system and can be easily claimed as the ancient system, but even in the current tech-driven world, it is the most convenient and widely used transportation system in the world. Another significance of the train service in the modern era that it helps in the economic development of a country. A third significant aspect of train service is the freight service that it offers. A fourth important point discussed in the article is that different industries are able to benefit from the train system. These points will be further elaborated (Hayes, 2014).

Four key points from the article

Trains have proved to be the locomotive backbone of many countries since their inception. It is the cheapest and most convenient transportation system that is widely used by the people to travel from one city to another and even intercity to reach their office, shopping malls or meeting places on time. Train service helps employ thousands of workforce ranging from train stewards, chefs, driver, operators, and people operating the train network from the office. This employment level helps improve the economic system and makes the train system relevant in the 21st century (Hayes, 2014). Train service is a cheap mode of freight service and the one that allows unlimited amount of weight to be carried as opposed to the truck transportation of airplane that has limited space available for limited weight and products to travel. Many industries find the railway system as the most important system through which the raw materials or finished goods can be transported. Railroad system is considered vital for the American industry, most importantly the chemical industry as many chemical industries are heavy users of the railroad system (Hayes, 2014).

Supply and Demand – The Railroad freight

In the 21st century, the supply chains have become more accurate, timely and sophisticated in responding to and forecasting the actual demand for the product. This flexibility and accuracy allow for longer transportation of freight. This has made time, less relevant and has increased the importance of Just in Time inventory (Reilly, 2012). It is important to know that storage capacity and the cost of transportation plays an integral role in the overall cost of the product. Hence, the shippers are willing to trade the time of delivery with the available space at lower cost. The shippers also gain advantage by pairing the longer haul economy, railroad travel with over the road flexibility transportation. The misconceptions of the railroad are changed drastically by the industry toward a more of an intermodal transportation system (Reilly, 2012).
In the past three decades, the railroad transportation has re-invented itself and adjusted according to the 21st century supply chain management techniques with defining the sustainability, economic system and efficiency. These are all significant hallmarks of the 21st century train system which is considered completely relevant today and of economic importance. In the past, the railroad transportation system took almost two weeks to deliver and the company had long lead times because the concept of just-in-time inventory was not launched and there was no other option but now the supply and demand is managed appropriately (Reilly, 2012).

Cost of Production – The Railroad Transportation

It is important to know that train transportation of goods is more fuel efficient and cost effective as compared to other means of transportation of goods. In the US, the railroad freight transportation is on average 60 percent more fuel efficient than the other means of transporting goods to the railway system uses a technology that helps to reduce the friction that is based on steel rails and wheels. Hence, this is the most energy efficient means as well to transport large volumes of commercial and local passengers' goods (Muller, 2014). The trains are considered to be an ideal means of transportation of the high volumes of the commodities that are in bulk, which brings the per product transportation cost down for the company that uses the railroad freight system. In the US, the rail transportation costs of the bulk material is very low – generally costing less than US$ 0.03 per ton-km and for the dense freight the cost is less than US$ 0.02 per ton-km. This means that trains are extremely relevant in the 21st century because they help to reduce the cost of transportation of the goods that eventually helps to lower down the average cost of production (Muller, 2014).

Conclusion

Even though the railway system is an old transportation system and can be easily claimed as the ancient system, but even in the current tech-driven world, it is the most convenient and widely used transportation system in the world. Another significance of the train service in the modern era that it helps in the economic development of a country. Yes, I agree with the author’s comment because, even though, there are new transportation systems in use, they will never be able to replace the economic benefit that the traditional rail system has to offer.

References

Hayes H. (2014) Trains Still Relevant in the 21st Century Economy, TimesNews http://www.timesnews.net/article/9072703/trains-still-relevant-in-21st-century-economy
Muller (2014) All Aboard: Why America's Second Rail Boom Has Plenty Of Room To Run, Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2014/01/22/americas-second-rail-boom/
Reilly J. (2012) Rail Intermodal: Where Rail Meets Road, Inbound Logistics http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/rail-intermodal-where-rail-meets-road/