Why are trains better at transporting large amounts of cargo than the trucks?

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Why are trains better at transporting large amounts of cargo than the trucks?

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The amount of rolling resistance from rolling depends on how hard the wells are. Trucks use pneumatic tires but rain uses steel wheels on steel tracks. We talk about less then a tenth of rolling resistance.

Steel wheels do not provide any suspension and you need a hard surface that can keep sustaining the high pressure from the small contact area. So you can use a steel wheel on a regular road because the wheel will shake itself apart at speed.

You also have resistance from drag when you move. A significant part of that is from the front and rear of the vehicles. Adding an extra wagon does not increase that a lot. It should be said that the same effect in play for trucks where the tuck and the trailer or a box truck and a trailer are close together. Large trucks are more efficient in transporting stuff the small they are just practical imitations on a road.

Air resistance depends on speed too, it is not uncommon for large cargo trains to move are relatively low speeds, and the tend to be slower than trucks on the road.

So lots of wagons connected one after another and lower rolling resistance on steel wheels is the main advantage

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