JBH is the major NS customer on 22K/23K and services Boston from NS's Ayer, MA terminal. JBH services upstate NY from the Albany area, including all the distribution centers for WalMart, Target and Kohls that are located along I-90 and I-87.
Schneider National is a major CSX customer in Worcester, MA and services Boston and New England from there. Schneider services all the Upstate NY distribution centers from Selkirk and Dewitt.
That makes sense. Now, I am curious. Is there that much domestic container business in the Albany area, or does JBH dray to Boston area?Just curious how JBH and others handle Boston on NS (if they do).
Ed
205 and 206 are domestic doublestacks. They terminate/originate in Mechanicsville, NY and do not go through the Hoosac Tunnel.
UPS traffic to/from the Boston area all travels via CSX using their Wooster, MA intermodal terminal.
So, are the NS trains 205/206 also single stackers (except international boxes)?
I havent seen either of those lately.
Do any of these Boston - Chicago trains handle UPS trailers/containers?Ed
Vern Moore 22K and 23K are indeed limited to single domestic stacks and tri-level auto racks due to the Hoosac Tunnel. IIRC, the tunnel is about a foot to short for two domestic containers to ride stacked. International containers can run doubled, and I saw such a combination on 23K just yesterday. But most of the time those two trains are single stack domestic containers with the occassional trailer on a flat car. No hard info about 20K, since it isn't a local train to me. But I will say that from my time spent driving as an over-the-road trucker, that we are in the slow time of year for freight movements and you're probably seeing that. Back to school shipping is done and Europe is all on vacation for the month of August. So east coast traffic is slow. But by mid September the Christmas season freight starts moving and volumes should start increasing.
22K and 23K are indeed limited to single domestic stacks and tri-level auto racks due to the Hoosac Tunnel. IIRC, the tunnel is about a foot to short for two domestic containers to ride stacked.
International containers can run doubled, and I saw such a combination on 23K just yesterday. But most of the time those two trains are single stack domestic containers with the occassional trailer on a flat car.
No hard info about 20K, since it isn't a local train to me. But I will say that from my time spent driving as an over-the-road trucker, that we are in the slow time of year for freight movements and you're probably seeing that.
Back to school shipping is done and Europe is all on vacation for the month of August. So east coast traffic is slow. But by mid September the Christmas season freight starts moving and volumes should start increasing.
NS through it's joint venture with Pan Am rail (Guilford);the Patriot Corridor, is planning on raising the height of the Hossac tunnel to provide clearances for Domestic Container doublestack service. Last I knew they were seeking some type of Federal laons to finance the project.
Not sure of the timeline but I bet the Pan am people wish the money had been available back in the late 90's when they heightened the tunnel to accommodate Multilevel autoracks..
http://www.lowellsun.com/business/ci_20119769/pan-am-looks-increase-tunnel-space-key-route
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
1. Does NS have restrictions on double stacks thru Hoosac Tunnel or to Boston? Their 23k seems to handle single stacks only.
2. I checked weekly carloadings and intermodal is off a little, but the last couple of weeks, NS 20k, an early pm departure from Chicago for Croxton, NJ has been extremely light. Usually it has considerable trailers (no UPS) but will have TL carrier business. Lately it has been short and stacks. The last two I have seen (within a week) have had 25 and 30 containers. This train used to run heavy...usually 125 - 150...mostly trailers. Perhaps they changed their trailer train operations, but this train is not making NS much money.
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