Balance and coordination for road and rail

The concern here is with coordination and investment balance between road and rail, especially in the next half century in North America. There may now be some overdevelopment of road in relation to rail and an associated technological lag in rail, where necessary system-wide standards make changes difficult. Coordination should be closer and possibly include more use of dual-mode (road-rail) vehicles. Rail might well expand into the very large market share now held by road and air. In view of this possibility, some suggestions on technology and public policy are discussed. It would appear that rail should shift somewhat out of feeder service and expand in linehaul service.