CONTEXT

摘要

It's hardly news in rail circles, but it's just now creeping into the collective North American psyche: When it comes to "green" freight and passenger mobility options, rail trumps cars and trucks. And in varying shades of green, freight railroads and passenger-rail agencies are beginning to rethink their own eco-sensitive strategies-from productivity enhancements and product/equipment purchases to organizational planning and policy implementation, even marketing and customer outreach efforts (see this month's cover story package, which begins on page 17). They're doing it because it makes sense - eco-sense, sure, but there's also bottom-line and, increasingly, top-line logic to it. Soaring gas prices continue to prompt fuel consumers to reconsider their transportation choices, and freight railroads and passenger-rail agencies are spreading the rail-is-more-fuel-efficient gospel with unprecedented urgency.