Projo Biz Blog

Journal archive photo / Bill Murphy
A cargo ship at port in Quonset last summer, where it unloaded imported automobiles.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that increased traffic on U.S. highways and higher gas prices are pushing more cargo from trucks to trains.

That trend could help the state-owned Quonset Business Park, which recently completed extensive and costly improvements to its internal railroad tracks. The Quonset project was one piece of a $225-million upgrade of tracks from Quonset to Central Falls.

Last October, automobile importer North Atlantic Distribution received its first ever shipment of cars by train, The Providence Journal reported. Previously, the company had brought in all cars by ship.

That shipment left the park by truck. But in the future, NORAD also plans to ship cars by rail out of the park. The Quonset Develpment Corporation, the division of the state Economic Development Corporation that oversees the Quonset Business Park, hopes other companies in the park will follow suit.

In other parts of the country, it appears that similar investments in railroad infrastructure have been paying off, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"Railroad operators are pressing for advantage over their main competitor, long-haul trucking, which has struggled with rising fuel prices, driver shortages and highway congestion," The Wall Street Journal reported. "Railroads say a load can be moved by rail using about a third as much fuel as it takes to haul it by truck. And rail transport is becoming more efficient still, they say, as operators speed their lines and logistics companies build huge warehouse areas along routes."

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