In January 2003, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) published the Freight Rail Bottom LIne Report, which catalogued the many public benefits of freight rail - and found that increased use of rail would magnify those benefits substantially.  AASHTO found that just a 1% increase in rail's share of the freight market by 2020 would:

• Allow nearly 600 million tons of additional freight to move by rail - enough to fill almost 15 million trucks per year,
• Reduce traffic congestion and save drivers almost $20 billion per year in time and fuel costs,
• Save taxpayers at least $17 billion in additional highway costs over 20 years,
• Reduce transportation costs for shippers by $25 billion per year - a savings which can then be passed on to consumers, and
• Create greater efficiencies for the entire transportation system by carrying trailer loads and containers on cost-efficient, low-emmission intermodal trains for movements between cities.

Click here to view the entire Freight Rail Bottom Line Report.