Cities are struggling from the same problems that have left the national economy sputtering: high unemployment, a depressed housing market and weak consumer spending.

Sales of many “fast-moving” consumer goods, such as shampoo and toothpaste, are now growing faster in the villages than in the cities.

It transports coal, agricultural products, consumer goods and industrial materials between us cities and to or from international ports, competing with freight haulage on the roads by trucks.