Spatial Performance of Rail and Road Transportation

The above graph compares a rail line with a four lane highway. Rail is far more efficient than road in terms of capacity and space consumption. For instance, it has more than double the capacity (335,000 tons per km per day compared to 150,000 tons per km per day for road) and three times the spatial performance (in tons per km per m2 per day) of roads. However, road is more flexible in terms of spatial coverage.