CBO: Freight Transportation by Truck Eight Times Higher Than Cost of Rail

The cost of transporting freight by truck is about eight times higher than by rail, the Congressional Budget Office determined in a working paper published March 30.

The analysis measured costs not covered by taxes, such as wear and tear on roads and highway infrastructure, emissions and congestion.

To address unpriced external costs, CBO noted several options. They included imposing taxes based on the weight or distance of each shipment, increasing the existing tax on diesel fuel, implementing a tax on the transport of shipping containers and increasing the existing tax on truck tires.

“Using a simulation model based on observed overland shipping activity in the United States, the analysis shows how each tax would affect shippers’ choice of transport mode and the amounts of carload/truckload, bulk, intermodal freight, which travels by truck and rail, and automobiles that would be shipped,” according to the paper.

The Obama administration’s $478 billion, six-year transportation policy plan unveiled March 30 proposes establishing an $18 billion freight program.