Our second event today was on the union pacific railway cars. This was a very impressive event - the union pacific folks went out of their way to present a fantastic experience. We visited an old set of passenger cars, on which they had bars for refreshments and kitchen cars where they prepared us food. Some cars were set up as living rooms, with ornate furniture arrnaged into a warm discussion area. Other cars were set up for dining, with a dome at the top that gave you a view of the Mississippi. One of the things that I found very interesting about this event was the discussion of trains and fuel efficiency. Trains, it turns out, are about 3 times more efficient than trucks on the road. A single train replaces about 260 trucks on the road.

Right now there is a lot of talk about environmental protection and finding better ways to transport people on the raillines, especially with higher fuel costs affecting both driving and airlines. Some intersting information: when union paciifc runs passenger lines they run one passenger train in place of two freight trains to provide a safety buffer for passenger cars: the most valuable cargo they could carry. So if one passenger train replaces two freight trains, and one freight train replaces 260 trucks on the road, one passenger train puts 580 more trucks on the road, at a higher fuel cost. That also leads to more congestion in the cities during peak load times i think those are interesting numbers.

The only downside to this event was that we didn't get to stay long enough: we had to leave at 12:00 to get to the convention center.