Today, the Silk Road is just as active a trade route as it was 700 years ago, but there's a certain "back to the future" feel to the most recent projects linking Europe and China. The mode of choice being talked about now is not ocean or air cargo but rail freight.

General Electric Transportation's emissions-reducing rail systems have accumulated 100 million auto-control miles, helping the rail industry save 56 million gallons of fuel and $197m in fuel costs, as well as reducing greenhouse gases by 628 kilotons.

U.S. West Coast ports are being "held hostage" by longshore labor. So says one noted economist.