The Economist, England’s business-oriented news magazine, features the Northwest’s coal export controversy this week. The relatively short piece offers both sides a chance to state their case. Balance in coverage of this issue can be hard to find. It’s worth a read.

An associated story from the previous week should not be missed. It deals with an underappreciated part of our transportation infrastruture, the freight rail industry.

EUROPEANS have long pitied Americans for their rotten passenger trains. But when it comes to moving goods America has a well-kept freight network that is the most cost-effective in the world.

…Since the Staggers Act of 1980 deregulated the sector (see chart below), rail companies have invested about 17% of their revenues in their networks. This is about half a trillion dollars of private money over the past three decades.

Time magazine made a similar observation in an article last year by Michael Grunwald.

U.S. freight railroads will get $23 billion worth of upgrades this year, and taxpayers won’t pick up the tab. That’s because the railroads build, maintain and improve their own infrastructure and even pay property taxes on their tracks. Also, freight trains are about three times as fuel-efficient as long-haul trucks, which means they help cut smog and reduce the U.S.’s carbon emissions and oil dependence

…They are also quite literally the engines of our economy. America’s passenger rail is a global joke, but our freight rail is the envy of the world, carrying over 40% of our intercity cargo.

For more, check out this fact sheet from the Association of American Railroads.

Worth thinking about as coal and trains remain hot topics locally.