Working On The Railroads

High priced energy has started to put a dent in corporate profits, but most of the nation's top railroads have moved right along with strong sales and earnings in 2008. Rising demand for transporting food and coal keeps things rolling along.

The four railroad companies in the Dow Jones Transportation Average have seen their stock prices increase an average of 34% this year. And the good times may continue because it costs less to transport goods by rail than by truck.

A railroad industry group claims that trains can move a ton of freight 431 miles on one gallon of diesel, which is about three times as far as a truck can.

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