New work rules for truckers might help railroads

[Anonymous]

According to the news article in the recent issue, it says the rewrite of the hours of service regulations might help railroads. According to the FMSCA's study they'll need to hire 84,300 more drivers to handle the same amount of freight they're handling today.

What do you all think? Will this end up giving the railroads more business in the long run or will it have no effect? Would there actually be enough customers who would say "Hey, this is taking too long shipping by truck now. Let's ship stuff by rail." where it would make a noticeable impact?

I think I'm missing something, but the new rules don't seem like they would have that major of an impact.

[Anonymous]

According to the news article in the recent issue, it says the rewrite of the hours of service regulations might help railroads. According to the FMSCA's study they'll need to hire 84,300 more drivers to handle the same amount of freight they're handling today.

What do you all think? Will this end up giving the railroads more business in the long run or will it have no effect? Would there actually be enough customers who would say "Hey, this is taking too long shipping by truck now. Let's ship stuff by rail." where it would make a noticeable impact?

I think I'm missing something, but the new rules don't seem like they would have that major of an impact.

[kenneo]

I think you may be correct. I can't see much difference, but if it should be as advertised, what will probably happen is the folks that play by the rules will either go broke or put their long haul on TOFC. The rest will do as they have been doing for some time now - they will keep two sets of books and drive the wheels off of their trucks.

[kenneo]

I think you may be correct. I can't see much difference, but if it should be as advertised, what will probably happen is the folks that play by the rules will either go broke or put their long haul on TOFC. The rest will do as they have been doing for some time now - they will keep two sets of books and drive the wheels off of their trucks.

[Anonymous]

The major trucking companies are turning to the RR's to transport their long haul freight because of a shortage of truck drivers and the decrease in wear and tear on their trailers. On a coast to coast haul, the trucking companies figure that it will take at least 1 additional day by rail. Their drivers spend much of their time in picking up trailers or containers at the customers plants and transporting them to the rail yard, which is preferred by the drivers as they can go home every night. The companies first had to negoiate with the Teamster union the percentage of freight that could be sent by rail. This was accomplished over time as they went from zero to well over 50% with some companies.
The main problem is the independent trucker who has to support his truck and keeps 2 log books to record his travels. I travelled a lot before I retired and spent considerable time stopping at truck stops. It's quite interesting to overhear truckers relate their stories. One trucker told another that he had to do over 500 miles a day to cover his expenses. Another trucker said he hauled from coast to coast. He said he left the east coast on monday, popped pills and drove thru to LA where he dropped his load. He would then sleep for 2 days, then pick up a load and drive straight thru to the east coast. These conversations were overhead in 1990 so times may be different now.

[Anonymous]

The major trucking companies are turning to the RR's to transport their long haul freight because of a shortage of truck drivers and the decrease in wear and tear on their trailers. On a coast to coast haul, the trucking companies figure that it will take at least 1 additional day by rail. Their drivers spend much of their time in picking up trailers or containers at the customers plants and transporting them to the rail yard, which is preferred by the drivers as they can go home every night. The companies first had to negoiate with the Teamster union the percentage of freight that could be sent by rail. This was accomplished over time as they went from zero to well over 50% with some companies.
The main problem is the independent trucker who has to support his truck and keeps 2 log books to record his travels. I travelled a lot before I retired and spent considerable time stopping at truck stops. It's quite interesting to overhear truckers relate their stories. One trucker told another that he had to do over 500 miles a day to cover his expenses. Another trucker said he hauled from coast to coast. He said he left the east coast on monday, popped pills and drove thru to LA where he dropped his load. He would then sleep for 2 days, then pick up a load and drive straight thru to the east coast. These conversations were overhead in 1990 so times may be different now.

[cabforward]

no-brainer, here..

more trailers come to the r.r., more trains are run, more $$ made.. what's the catch? it's the same crewmen doing the extra work.. in a month, they will average 1-2 fewer days at home, 8-15 fewer hours sleep, more money, poorer relations w/the family, worse headaches and back pains.. and harder questions to answer about sticking w/it or doing something else..

[cabforward]

no-brainer, here..

more trailers come to the r.r., more trains are run, more $$ made.. what's the catch? it's the same crewmen doing the extra work.. in a month, they will average 1-2 fewer days at home, 8-15 fewer hours sleep, more money, poorer relations w/the family, worse headaches and back pains.. and harder questions to answer about sticking w/it or doing something else..

[Anonymous]

I know i might draw some ire here,but how many truck drivers run legal to start with? I put in a couple of years over the road myself,it was common knowlage then that log books were comic books,and i strongly suspect nothing has changed.If i am correct,the new rules mean nothing.

[Anonymous]

I know i might draw some ire here,but how many truck drivers run legal to start with? I put in a couple of years over the road myself,it was common knowlage then that log books were comic books,and i strongly suspect nothing has changed.If i am correct,the new rules mean nothing.

[JoeKoh]

I know some tuckers keep separate"books" and as far as speed limits?HMMMM,
stay safe
joe

[JoeKoh]

I know some tuckers keep separate"books" and as far as speed limits?HMMMM,
stay safe
joe

[Anonymous]

The Wall St Journal on July 25th has an article "Battling Trucks, Trains Gain Steam By Watching Clock" by Daniel Machalaba and Christopher J Chipello. It is nearly 1/2 page in length and gives a lot of facts as to the reason that rails are gaining share again. It is a must read for all. Roy

[Anonymous]

The Wall St Journal on July 25th has an article "Battling Trucks, Trains Gain Steam By Watching Clock" by Daniel Machalaba and Christopher J Chipello. It is nearly 1/2 page in length and gives a lot of facts as to the reason that rails are gaining share again. It is a must read for all. Roy

[Anonymous]

As one who drives for living(rather be doing something else) the problem with log books aren't so much the drivers fault as it is the fault of the shipper/receiver always asking for more but giving less and less in the compensation area.

Most of the freight rates are too low for a driver, owner-operator and in many cases companies to sustain a business let alone make a profit.
Most trucking companies make an average of 1% profit. Not too good.

The major trucking companies make up for the low rates by doing volume.
There is another problem that has some indirect pressure on both the trucking industry and the railroads. That pressure is coming from the fact that there are few "large" industries in America today. Although one might think that steel, and automotive are large industries, in fact they are not. This has been caused by the province of the manufactuers to "spread" out the industry to places where one would never find heavy industry before.

Most trucking today is in the 350-500 mile range. To be fair there are still some coast-coast hauls(mainly produce) but most are overnight or 1.5 days at best.
Anymore than that and the price and quality suffers.

This segment of the trucking industry is going to be a hard nut for the railroads to crack.
The only logical way to do this is use a system similar to either CPR's Xpressway or NS's Triple Crown. Unfortunately terminal delays such as in Chicago will not allow this traffic to grow until that problem is solved.

[Anonymous]

As one who drives for living(rather be doing something else) the problem with log books aren't so much the drivers fault as it is the fault of the shipper/receiver always asking for more but giving less and less in the compensation area.

Most of the freight rates are too low for a driver, owner-operator and in many cases companies to sustain a business let alone make a profit.
Most trucking companies make an average of 1% profit. Not too good.

The major trucking companies make up for the low rates by doing volume.
There is another problem that has some indirect pressure on both the trucking industry and the railroads. That pressure is coming from the fact that there are few "large" industries in America today. Although one might think that steel, and automotive are large industries, in fact they are not. This has been caused by the province of the manufactuers to "spread" out the industry to places where one would never find heavy industry before.

Most trucking today is in the 350-500 mile range. To be fair there are still some coast-coast hauls(mainly produce) but most are overnight or 1.5 days at best.
Anymore than that and the price and quality suffers.

This segment of the trucking industry is going to be a hard nut for the railroads to crack.
The only logical way to do this is use a system similar to either CPR's Xpressway or NS's Triple Crown. Unfortunately terminal delays such as in Chicago will not allow this traffic to grow until that problem is solved.

[Anonymous]

The new rules will make little, if any difference to the amount of revenue earned by the railroads. Check out a lot of your trailer and stack trains. You'll find that a significant number of those trailers and containers are not revenue loads, but are equipment repositioning moves.

Also, the new rules will do little to tighten rampant cheating on hours by truckers. As has been well pointed out margins in the trucking industry are razor thin. To keep up, many truckers pu***he limits. Look at the City of NO crash at Boubonaisse, IL and that trucker who was working 2+ jobs and keeping separate books. They caught him by tracing his fuel receipts...

LC

[Anonymous]

The new rules will make little, if any difference to the amount of revenue earned by the railroads. Check out a lot of your trailer and stack trains. You'll find that a significant number of those trailers and containers are not revenue loads, but are equipment repositioning moves.

Also, the new rules will do little to tighten rampant cheating on hours by truckers. As has been well pointed out margins in the trucking industry are razor thin. To keep up, many truckers pu***he limits. Look at the City of NO crash at Boubonaisse, IL and that trucker who was working 2+ jobs and keeping separate books. They caught him by tracing his fuel receipts...

LC

[wabash1]

To catch a trucker cheating it takes fuel recipts toll tickets and in some cases the bill of lading. all are timed documents some bill of ladings are time stamped when it was shipped or recieved. all fuel recipts are timed unless cash is paid and its a hand printed fuel reciept. you can run as many log books as you want it will catch up to you .

[wabash1]

To catch a trucker cheating it takes fuel recipts toll tickets and in some cases the bill of lading. all are timed documents some bill of ladings are time stamped when it was shipped or recieved. all fuel recipts are timed unless cash is paid and its a hand printed fuel reciept. you can run as many log books as you want it will catch up to you .