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Why do railroads run intermodal so fast?

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by uzurpator First of all - you need to get your facts straight. Maersk needs 11 days to get from Hong Kong to LA. www.maersksealand.com That is average speed of ~27-28 mph - so it matches the speed of the train. [/quote] You make a good point regarding the fact that the fastest ocean carriers can match the average transit speed of U.S. railroads, but on average it takes the major ocean carriers such as Hanjin, Hyundai, Evergreen, et al (e.g. the post-Panamax ships) longer to transit the Pacific, while the average transit speed of intermodal is probably more in the 35 to 40 mph range. The 25 mph standard for U.S. railroads is more geared toward carload freight which don't necessarily participate in the import/export trades. Carload freight tends to get bogged down during terminal reclassification duties. You should also note that, although the fastest ocean times can approach 25 -27 mph, that is between the port of last call on the Asian side and the port of first call on the American side. Most containerlines tend to hit multiple ports before making the Pacific crossing, wherein they will hit multiple ports on this end. If you are shipping a container from Kyoto to Seattle, but the carrier calls at a few other ports Asian side, calling finally on Hong Kong before crossing over to LA, thence up the coast to Oakland, Vancouver, and then finally Seattle, you know it's going to take probably twice as long as that 11 days. Even so, those container trains from Seattle to the east are going to move just as fast as those container trains from LA to the east, so Gabe's original observation is still valid.
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