Commentary
If crude by rail, why not water?
Written by Bruce E. Kelly, Contributing EditorI can’t help but watch the wildfires and water shortages taking place in California and wonder if BNSF and Union Pacific, and perhaps a few of their shippers, are able to respond to this drought with the same urgency with which they’ve answered the call for hauling crude. How many weeks, or months, would it take for BNSF and UP to corral enough tank cars together and set up locations in states with a greater abundance of water where those cars can be filled and then rushed toward California?
![“Thanks to Secretary Pete [Buttigieg], USDOT, the Federal Railroad Administration and all our partners for making the S-Line passenger rail a reality!!” NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins said in a July 1 LinkedIn post. “Thanks to the hard work of our NCDOT team we broke ground on the first construction project in the Raleigh to Wake Forest segment, a $19M project to grade separate Durant Road 7 months after the grant announcement!!” (Photograph Courtesy of Joey Hopkins)](https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/slinelead-315x168.png)