A Decade of Growth in Domestic Freight - Rail and Truck Ton-Miles Continue to Rise

Domestic freight traffi c carried by air, truck, rail, water, and pipeline totaled more than 4.5 trillion ton-miles in 2005—an increase of more than 350 billion over the 1996 total. This 8.7 percent growth in ton-miles, the primary physical measure of freight transportation output, refl ects a 0.9 percent compound annual growth rate between 1996 and 2005, the latest year for which complete data are available. However, the overall growth masks some notable differences among modes, with ton-miles in three modes (rail, truck, and air) increasing while ton-miles in the other two modes (pipeline and water) declined over the 10-year span. Figure 1 illustrates the growth of domestic freight ton-miles during this time period.1