What are the positive and negative effects of trains on communities?

Answer 1

First one must consider the relationship between the railroad and the communities.

When speaking of a community that is host to a railroad terminal, there are significant benefits in the form of employment. Smaller communities are impacted to a large extent from the increased job opportunities, as well as local merchants who have a substantial economic base provided by railroaders at away from home terminals, which would include restaurants, diners, coffee shops, etc. One example is the community of Dunsmuir, California, an away from home terminal that a large part of the economy depends on.

In addition, property taxes paid by the rail carriers also benefit the entire county that they are located in, affecting an area far larger than the terminus within.

It must be remembered, that many railroad communities are there because of the railroad, having sprung up a century or more ago, as a direct result of the railroad construction. Many are long gone, but many, many more are still thriving, as a result of the economic benefits outlined above.

The biggest downside for communities, large and small, is the noise. Audio pollution in the form of trains roaring through a town, made even worse if the town has many railroad grade crossings to pass over, with the resultant constant blowing of the train’s whistle. Many communities, foolishly, in my opinion, have ordinances prohibiting the engineers from blowing the whistle. It is my belief that anytime a crucial safety warning is prohibited, the potential for accidents rises dramatically.

Another significant problem, particularly where there are large terminals, is ground water pollution. Though there have been many mandated safeguards put into place via legislation over recent decades, the pollution from fuel, grease, creosote, etc., had been ongoing for a hundred years before there was a problem recognized and steps made to mitigate the predictable out come.

In terms of transportation itself, the associated air pollution is thousands of times less than would be created for the same amount of tonnage to be moved by other forms of surface, air or sea going transportation. In addition, a rail line is far less destructive and less obtrusive than a highway, occupying many times less area than a highway would have to be to accommodate the same volume of traffic.

Of course the possibility of a derailment and the resultant damage potential is a significant threat. But, this danger can be mitigated as well, with legislation to limit train length, train tonnage and to further limit the hours of service a railroad operating employee may work without rest. There are little train make up limitations placed on the carriers in terms of length and tonnage, and what restrictions are in place primarily deal with the location in the train of certain classes of Hazardous Material. As a result, trains are running too heavy and too long, limited only by the carriers own restrictions, which are always to the maximum.

The Hours of Service Act, which dictates rest requirements for crewmen, haven’t been revamped since 1974. Consequently, you have exhausted men running trains that are too massive. This is a recipe for disaster, regardless of community size or location.

Answer 2

Passenger trains or cargo trains?

Positive: brings goods to areas which are not easily accessed by roads. (remote rural communities, for instance)
allows people to commute more efficiently between communities at the same time reducing green house gases

Negative: cargo being transported may be of high risk, e.g., gas, chemicals which can create environmental issues should a train leave the track
they don't seem to be available as much as they used to be since everyone has a car and will opt for its convenience rather than using a train

Answer 3

For freight trains.

Positives: they bring large industry which brings jobs. Even if there is no in-town industry on the line today, the town is marketable to such industries because of the rail. The presence of the railroad makes passenger rail service plausible in the future.

Negatives: Noise, inconvenience at grade crossing, and trespasser fatalities from being hit by trains. Very low risk of derailment damage or hazmat release.

Falsely attributed negatives: Depressed property values (not really). Disturbing of populace (they get used to it very quickly.)

Passenger trains.

Positives: ELEVATED PROPERTY VALUES. Transportation convenience. Economic benefits of travelers coming to your town (and not the other town with no train station), easy access for travelers, and being a transit hub. Also, property values go up. Did I mention its positive effect on the real estate market?

Negatives: Noise, very short inconvenience at grade crossing, and trespasser fatalities from being hit by trains. Negligible risk of derailment damage.

False negatives: City criminals use train to bring crime to pleasant suburb. (that turns out not to be so, but fear of this has deterred more than one transit project.)

Answer 4

well, in my lil town, we have about 20-30 trains coming through per day. The rail road tracks run right through the middle of town, so we constantly get stopped by them. They are a huge pain in the a*s. I'm constantly late to school, and all sorts of other things due to them.