Skip to content

Talking Headways Podcast: More Than Just a Box

This week I'm joined by Matthew Heins, author of The Globalization of American Infrastructure: The Shipping Container and Freight Transportation. Matthew talks about how the American highway and rail systems created a global standard for shipping containers, containerization’s effects on labor and relevance to an automated trucking future, and the massive intermodal freight terminals in cities like Chicago.

This week I’m joined by Matthew Heins, author of The Globalization of American Infrastructure: The Shipping Container and Freight Transportation. Matthew talks about how the American highway and rail systems created a global standard for shipping containers, containerization’s effects on labor and relevance to an automated trucking future, and the massive intermodal freight terminals in cities like Chicago.

Photo of Jeff Wood
Jeff Wood is the creator of the Talking Headways podcast and editor of the newsletter The Overhead Wire.

Read More:

Comments Are Temporarily Disabled

Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.

Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.

More from Streetsblog USA

How To Fix The Broken Gas Tax

March 31, 2026

Tuesday’s Headlines Peace Out

March 31, 2026

Chicago to St. Louis Is the High-Speed Rail Test America Can’t Afford to Fail

March 31, 2026

Trump’s ‘Freedom Means Affordable Cars’ Rings Hollow As Gas Prices Surge

March 30, 2026

Monday’s Headlines Pedal Backwards

March 30, 2026
See all posts