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October 7, 2005 10:00 AM, EDT

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new study by a market research firm, recommends moving 25% of freight truck traffic onto intermodal freight trains by 2025, the Orlando (Fla.) Business Journal reported.

According to the firm Demographia’s fourth annual study, the move would save Orlando-area commuters an average of nearly 49 hours and $765 each year and reduce local fuel consumption by 255 million gallons a year.

The paper did say that central Florida relies on trucks to deliver goods and services to businesses and that the region's railroads already are encroaching upon their capacity thresholds.

Not only would the trucking and rail industries have to work together on the issue as a matter of business practice — which could be difficult as many private companies have their own truck fleets — but governments also would have to revamp zoning regulations to allow for more industrial development built around rail corridors, the paper reported.