North America has a railroad problem that the rest of the world doesn’t have. As a result, a lot of North Americans think it’s too expensive to electrify that mode of transportation. As we explore electrifying everything everywhere all at once as a key wedge in solving global warming it’s time to debunk that notion. Why am I singling out North America and North Americans? Because the Americas are singular in their lack of ability and willingness to do what the rest of the world has already mostly done.
I’ve assembled this through my assessments over the past decade of all transportation, including from Indian Railway reports, Chinese transportation studies and public data. My engagement with rail transportation started with public transportation in the late 1980s and continued through consulting to CN Rail over a decade ago. I have strong memories of clambering around a diesel-electric locomotive in a Montreal-area freight yard while taking their introductory rail operations course, part of the journey that led to helping them build an 18 state and 10 province visual mapping and key performance indicator system for all of their rolling assets.