Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: What is also mentioned is that the Triple Crown operations are positioned in lanes mostly void of COFC and TOFC, e.g. the bi-modal operations are not allowed to compete head to head with the other intermodal traffic, so it's hard get a first hand accounting of how and if bi-modal might be superior to COFC and TOFC. One has to wonder what would accrue if bi-modal operations were allowed in all the viable intermodal lanes. Could it spell doom for traditional COFC and TOFC? Is that why NS's Intermodal honchos keep the RoadRailers out of other logical bi-modal lanes? It is also mentioned that Triple Crown is growing faster than NS's other intermodal business, and is limited "only by the number of RoadRailers we own." Seems like yet another case of a rail company short selling itself for the sake of outdated tradition. If the bi-modal business has greater growth potential than the COFC and TOFC business, why wouldn't the company exploit that potential to maximize revenues to it's stockholders? [/quote] Interesting observation and ponderance.. My own best guess is that TC succeeds because it is managed in such a way that it doesn't go head to head with "modes" that offer stiff competition. Protecting it from "dog eat dog" competition, or, to borrow a concept from baseball, "platooning" it the way you might a particular batter so that he only faces the kind of pitchers he handles well. Just a thought. My opinion, but I don't really think it is "truckers" per se that NS is going after with it's TC operations. The net effect is that it gets trucks off the highways, that's the side of it that we see. But My guess is that NS has really just taken a look at the types of freight that historically has had to be trucked between origin and railhead or between railhead and destinarion, and cut the truckers out of that loop. A nd dome so in such a way as to make handling the transitions between modes, more cost effective. Plus, once a shippers goods are on a TC trailer, well you know that CSX isn't going to cut into that revenue stream against you. I think TC is more of a component in a growth strategy than it is an end all by itself
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag