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Service Failures and Time Sensitive Freight

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Service Failures and Time Sensitive Freight
Posted by Victrola1 on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 10:43 AM

SPOKANE, Wash. — Congestion on BNSF Railway in 2013 and 2014 “destroyed” a new refrigerated intermodal service between the Pacific Northwest and Chicago, according to an amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by a Washington state company last week. 

The above was posted on this web site's Newswire 11-24-15. 

Will service failures keep rail from capturing and retaining time sensitive shipments from trucks?

 

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Posted by ROBERT WILLISON on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 11:05 AM

Won't help, but with the decline of coal some railroads such as csx , will be taking a look at all potential new traffic.

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Posted by diningcar on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 11:09 AM

When you read the BNSF response it was clearly stipulated that 'time' was not garanteed. Given the factors that may affect train operations, some completly beyond the railroads control, the BNSF stipulation is prudent.

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Posted by cx500 on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 3:45 PM

diningcar

When you read the BNSF response it was clearly stipulated that 'time' was not garanteed. Given the factors that may affect train operations, some completly beyond the railroads control, the BNSF stipulation is prudent.

 

There is a big difference between expecting the occasional service failure due to unforeseen circumstances (derailments, landslides, strikes) and what actually happened to the agreed quality service.  While whether the congestion was entirely within the railroad's control may be a debatable point, the fact remains that their undertaking to the shipper fell far short of what was promised.  The shipper's investment in facilities and equipment, and perhaps his reputation, are lost through no fault of his own.  The underlying cause was BNSF's own lack of investment in plant and manpower to handle the traffic under an agreed contract.

 

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 5:02 PM

Service failures usually occur when expectations aren't clearly managed at the outset... doesn't matter if its truck or rail. Set the expectation bar LOW and when you hobble over it you're golden.  

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Posted by Wizlish on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 7:50 PM

Victrola1
SPOKANE, Wash. — Congestion on BNSF Railway in 2013 and 2014 “destroyed” a new refrigerated intermodal service between the Pacific Northwest and Chicago, according to an amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by a Washington state company last week.

Isn't this the 'Cold Train' that we had such an informed discussion on a while back?  Someone reference that thread!

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