Proposed National Rail Plan Should Be Part of Overall Transportation Policy

The U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed National Rail Plan must be an integral part of a new, visionary, 21st Century National Transportation Policy. That's the recommendation of the Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI) and the National Center for Intermodal Transportation (NCIT) at the University of Denver.

In a white paper, ITI and NCIT described key issues that a national transportation policy must address. Among them are the following:

§  It should promote integration of all modes of transportation into a connected, intermodal system for movement of both goods and people;

§  It should promote the use of new energy technologies to reduce dependence on finite fossil fuels; and,

§  It should address funding of an "ethical", 21st Century intermodal transportation network with sustainable sources that would finance not only the cost of the initial infrastructure but the full life-cycle costs of the continued development, maintenance, and operation of the network.

The white paper is available at: http://www.du.edu/transportation/iti_2010_fra.pdf.

The Intermodal Transportation Institute offers an executive masters program that awards a master of science in Intermodal Transportation Management from the University of Denver. The National Center for Intermodal Transportation is a partnership between the University of Denver and Mississippi State University.

Source: Intermodal Transportation Institute