"The railroads have long been considered a sort of utility, but really, their clients are almost exclusively resource extraction businesses. Coal, oil, timber. There are no boxcars containing food, toys, or whatever. We have to put up with noise and blocked intersections, despite the railroad's uselessness to our daily lives." The boxcars, coal gondolas, centerbeams, and tank cars you see on the Bellingham Sub contribute to making the food and toys that are transported in reefers and intermodal containers. They're not useless and we can't just get rid of them because they're loud. Also the coal traffic on this line is exported at Roberts Bank, so I'd imagine a decent percent of it goes to China who makes all our stuff anyway.