Rail transportation is cheaper than trucking over longer distances.

Judge as of 2022 using the general cost comparison per ton-mile (or per unit of freight). TRUE: authoritative sources (US DOT/FRA, AAR, academic or industry freight-cost studies) show that rail is generally cheaper per ton-mile than truck over long hauls, for example beyond a few hundred miles. MOSTLY TRUE: rail is cheaper over long distances for most freight types, with stated exceptions (for example time-sensitive or low-volume freight, or once drayage is counted) that the claim does not address. MIXED: the evidence shows rail is cheaper over long distances only for a narrow set of commodities or conditions, and roughly as often not. MOSTLY FALSE: rail's cost advantage is shown to be small or absent in most long-haul comparisons, with only limited cases supporting it. FALSE: the evidence shows trucking is generally cheaper than rail over longer distances.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Assessing Rail Freight Solutions to Roadway Congestion: Final Report (NCHRP Project 8-42) Transportation Research Board (NCHRP Project 8-42); prepared by Global Insight, Economic Development Research Group, Carl D. Martland (MIT), Wilbur Smith Associates · October 2006

   “Intermodal rail, to use an obvious example, holds a commanding position for long haul transportation of containerized goods in dense intercity lanes. In these conditions, density supports dedicated trainload operations, and linehaul distance offsets inefficiencies in pickup and delivery; the result is that rail performs as well as a truck, with a lower cost.”

2. E2 Emerging Freight Truck Technologies: Effects on Relative Freight Costs Final Report Midwest Transportation Center / Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University; sponsored by U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology · May 2018

   “consumer would be indifferent between using rail and truck for any shipment with a distance around the 455 mile mark, and rail would have a price advantage above the 455 mile mark.”

3. E3 Comprehesive Truck Size and Weight Study Volume 3 Chapter 4 U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

   “Other rail traffic is either low-value goods where shippers are more concerned about the price of shipping than the convenience of door-to-door service, or goods of such a nature that rail has a formidable cost advantage over highway movement. Coal, grain, and most chemicals fall into this latter category.”

4. E4 Assessing Rail Freight Solutions to Roadway Congestion: Final Report (NCHRP Project 8-42) Transportation Research Board (NCHRP Project 8-42); prepared by Global Insight, Economic Development Research Group, Carl D. Martland (MIT), Wilbur Smith Associates · October 2006

   “Access costs are a major contributor to door-to-door transportation expense, and are the primary component of cost at shorter distances.”

A DOT-sponsored university study finds a breakeven distance of about 455 miles, beyond which rail has a price advantage over truck (E2). A federal FHWA study says rail has a formidable cost advantage for coal, grain and most chemicals (E3). A TRB report finds that intermodal rail on long-haul dense lanes performs as well as truck at lower cost [E1], and notes that access costs are a major contributor to door-to-door transportation expense and the primary component of cost at shorter distances [E4]. That limit fits the claim's restriction to longer distances.