According to industry analyst Plunkett Research Ltd., there were 4.5 million people employed in the U.S. transportation industry in 2008. This included 492,000 in air transportation, 229,000 in railroad transportation and 1.3 million in truck transportation.
The U.S. trucking industry earned $228 million in operating revenues in 2008. The industry included 927,000 tractor trailers and 256,000 trucks.
The U.S. air transportation industry provided air service to 696 million passengers in 2008. Total air revenue ton miles (the equivalent of one ton carried one mile) was 90.4 billion, including 6.7 billion freight ton miles.
Some 28.5 million passengers traveled on Amtrak trains in 2008, for a total of 6.1 billion passenger miles. Total railroad freight revenue ton miles were 1.7 trillion.
According to market research firm Frost & Sullivan, the aging world transportation system is leading to lost economic productivity. For instance, road congestion in the U.S. in 2007 led to 2.8 billion gallons of wasted fuel and 4.2 billion hours of productivity lost.
