THE EUROPEANS CAN'T MATCH THIS. Railroads invest to move the goods.

The upgrade is part of a railroad renaissance under way across much of the U.S. For the first time in nearly a century, railroads are making large investments in their networks -- adding sets of tracks, straightening curves that force engines to slow and expanding tunnels for bigger trains. Their campaign is altering the corridors of American commerce, more so than any other development since interstate highways spread to the interior.

In some cases, the upgrades create new transportation corridors, off the historic routes.

The buildout comes as the industry transitions away from its chief role in recent decades of hauling coal, timber and other raw materials in manufacturing regions. Now, increasingly, railroads are moving finished consumer goods, often made in Asia, from ports to major cities. Their new higher-volume routes, called corridors, often serve the South, where the rail system is less developed and the population is rising.

Railroad operators are pressing for advantage over their main competitor, long-haul trucking, which has struggled with rising fuel prices, driver shortages and highway congestion. Railroads say a load can be moved by rail using about a third as much fuel as it takes to haul it by truck. And rail transport is becoming more efficient still, they say, as operators speed their lines and logistics companies build huge warehouse areas along routes.

The legacy shippers are not happy.

The expansion is stirring conflict with some old customers, the shippers who move raw materials such as chemicals, grain and logs, who feel they're being charged unnecessarily high rates to pay for capital improvements. Trade groups representing such shippers are seeking federal legislation to rein in railroad rate increases.

I fear that there is no pricing system for a railroad (or any other multiproduct enterprise with sharable inputs) that makes everybody happy. The old system of regulation really wasn't better, with many prices based on the regulators' perception of the value of service.

The article includes some interactive maps showing great railroad engineering of the last century and the present. It also leaves out some other contemporary engineering accomplishments: imagine three and four tracks across Nebraska and Wyoming that do not see a passenger train.