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The history of US railroads dates back to 1827, when Baltimore & Ohio Railroad began building the country's first railroad between Baltimore and Ohio, Maryland. The first section of the public road was 24 km long. It was opened on January 7, 1830. In December 1830, the second Charleston-Augusta railway (in South Carolina) was opened, with a length of 64 km. The competition was fierce. As a result, freight and passenger rates were probably the lowest in the world.
The period from 1980 to 1999 is called the "Staggers era", characterized by a radical change in the field of rail transportation: the elimination of inefficient assets and the optimization of economic and commercial activities. Rail freight turnover doubled. Labor productivity increased 2.5 times.
Rail transport played a huge role in the historical development of the United States. The construction of railways, especially transcontinental highways, had a very big impact on the development and deployment of the country's productive forces.
A distinctive feature of the US railways is a low level of electrification and a sharp predominance of diesel traction. This is primarily due to the policy of oil monopolies interested in rail transport as one of the consumers of oil products. Recently, a certain “renaissance” of this type of transport in freight traffic is no longer associated not only with traditional bulk cargo, but with an increase in container traffic. In addition, projects are under development for the construction of the country's first high-speed railways.
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