Carload freight consists of individual railcars loaded with freight at separate locations that are then collected by a local freight train. This local freight train then takes the railcars to a railyard where they are sorted into longer freight trains to different destinations. These are called "manifest trains." A carload may pass through several railyards before it reaches its destination. Once it gets to the right yard, the process is reversed. The cars are put onto a local train and sent to the recieving customer. Carload freight requires spurs to be built for industries served, but once they are built, they save space and are much better for the planet than trucking. The first carload freight faciities were generally built within cities, sometimes even running in the street. More on this in this episode of :wtyp:. As discussed in that episode, many of these inner city industries were either moved to the suburbs, outsourced, or moved to trucking. Trucking deserves its own thread but in short, is a horrifically exploitative industry that is subsidized by taxpayers in the form of public roads and highways. It's dangerous, bad for the planet, bad for workers, and causes the most damage to the roads. Carload freight that remains is often found in suburban industrial parks, but even those are often dying out. Boxcars are being slowly replaced with trucks and containers that require a truck trip at each end. This is capitalism working as intended. :porky-happy:

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  • RandyLahey [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    was at a dinner with a bunch of pmc types last night. this one person there was telling me about this innovative project shes working on for her resources company. their plan is to take the leftover carbon from the 'carbon capture' of doing 'clean' coal burning, and then to process it somehow and ship it to india to feed to pigs in factory farms.

    so theyll subsidise the very worst method of energy production, where the greenwashing veneer of 'clean coal' is already paper thin, and then instead of doing even the bare minimum to sequester the tiny amount of reduced carbon emissions by burying it or whatever, theyre just going and using it anyway (but in another country!) to make the already-unbelievabily-horrifying lives of pigs in factory farms even more hellish by switching out their feed and feeding them industrial waste instead. just all the most dystopian bits of capitalism all wrapped into one, presented proudly as 'innovation' from their companys 'sustainability' department

    :agony-shivering:

    • fusion513 [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I'm no farmer, but I'm pretty sure pigs aren't meant to be eating coal byproducts (and people probably shouldn't be eating livestock whose diet consists of industrial waste.)

      • cilantrofellow [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Maybe not. But keep in mind this is a westerner’s design for consumers who are not.

        So it’s just good business and stops world hunger

        :pika-cousin-suffering:

      • RandyLahey [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        yeah im sure i missed some crucial step in the process, but i cant see any way you could process it enough to make it non-horrifying or healthy for anyone involved. i think the secrecy around it and the 'shipping to india' part are quite telling.

        (and people probably shouldn’t be eating livestock whose diet consists of industrial waste.)

        and of course the person telling me this was eating pork at the time btw