future of the boxcar

[Anonymous]

I just would like to know what the future holds for general freight?it seems that railroads are leaning towards double stack ,coal,grain trains and pigs.what will we see in 10 to 20 years .thanks Im interested in your feed back.

[Anonymous]

This debate has been going on for years. Go back to the old (1970's)Trains and see John Kneiling's (sp) articles. I think it comes and goes- with all the spin off of branch lines into independents, they are all pushing general freight since they dont have intermodal facilities. In addition, since the profit margins are often greater on general box car freight then intermodal, the companies go on sprees where they push it, then after awhile they settle back in the their mental fogs and it declines in importance. The key is service realibility- shjhippers will often pay and put up with the inflexibility of box car shipping if you can tell me when it will get here- and actually have it get here when you say it will- day after day.

[dknelson]

A timely question because most boxcars are rapidly approaching the end of their useful lives under federal regulations (30 years unless there is a pretty massive rebuilding). In fact many car types are facing the same issues. We are going to see an entire generation of freight cars missing in the near future and one can only wonder what the railroads and shippers are going to do about it
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

I do not think the Boxcar will ever die. There are too many important rail customers who use them. EXAMPLE: The paper Industry ship's most if not all there finished products in boxcar's. The Beer Industry is another example. These figures are old but in 1993, Budwieser shipped more barrels in boxcars then in trucks. *(St Louis brewery). I believe there will alway's be a need for boxcar's.
TIM ARGUBRIGHT
*=Home Brew Mag. Sept 95

[Anonymous]

If you go and look at the manufactures website you will see new designs for 86', 60', 50'HC and 50' standard. By the way TTX just ordered more boxes for their Railbox fleet they are 50'HC reporting marks TBOX. After being a bad idea in the 70's and 80's the idea was become profitable. And you have to take into consideration that the alot autoplants are set up to receive by rail and truck and won't change very fast.

[csxns]

Industry dock to a large warehouse dock i think boxcar is better than truck at this.

[Anonymous]

To change the subject just a little, what's your thinking on operations like NS's Triple Crown?

[Anonymous]

Having been on a lot of them I can tell you that it doesn't make sense for everyone. Some shippers are content to wait a week as long as it shows up on the day it is supposed to. Some want fast and TC can do that. It is more expensive and it still needs a special facility. The advantage a truck offers is that it can go from one door to another without having to go to a yard to be put on a train. We used to die all the time in the Ft. Wayne terminal due to delays on the road or having no operational EOTs or not getting clearance to move. If you have a problem out on the road you just can't set off the offending car like any other train. A carman has to come out a fix it. It hurt me to think that Ford was paying top dollar for this train to just sit. It would be better to have one train with all one destination on a through run and not swap blocks. Some of them do and most swap in Ft. Wayne. But if everything goes right they are a fun train to be on.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I have done a lot of thought on the subject and would have to say that 10 to 20 years from now as the industrial parks push farther out into tha burbs and the inner city is rebuilt for the third time r.r.s need to change .they have to think different with such things as miny trains taking 4 to 6 truck trailers 50 to 100 miles dopping them at hubs fast service .every where you go theres another industrial spur being taken up ,the truck can do it faster and cheaper. road railers have to be the future there turn around time is much better.I think the boxcar will be around for paper service which is why were seeing these new hi cube cars ,but if theres a trailer dock the co. is going to use that more and more .The future is going to be exciting to me to see all these new inovations between the trucking industry and the railroad and unit trains will be here forever.

[Anonymous]

Im no expert on the subject but I think that the NS's is a class operation and the triple crown just seems like a very good idea which I hope grows.

[Anonymous]

Yes I agree with you but, lets not forget that rail services like triple crown operate at very low profit margin. The overhead cost's to expand on these services is very expencive. If railroads are not careful, and try to grow too quickly in this field, One economic set back could potenialy bankrupt several class one railroads. If there is any growth in this field it would have to be through the small Reginals or class 3 rail companies. The class one's should just move trailers from major cities or long haul only.
TIM ARGUBRIGHT

[jsanchez]

I think the boxcar will be around a long time, many shippers like them because you can fit 3 to 5 truckloads in one car, a huge advantage if your a large shipper like Ford, Boise Cascade, Proctor & Gamble.
Another thing going for boxcar traffic is that it is more profitable than intermodal, CSX is really pushing for growth in boxcar traffic, especialy in the Northeast were short sightedly Conrail tried to kill the boxcar business. CSX is actually offering training at many factories on how to use and load boxcars, since thanks to Conrail this almost became a lost art. Another thing boxcars have going for them is their popularity on shortlines and regionals, very few class 2's and 3 bother with intermodal due to its low profit margins. If most of the growth in railroading is coming from class 2 and 3's than boxcars will continue to be used. There are many other comodities that ship well in boxcars, canned goods, bricks, plywood, steel products,foodstuffs, appliances, auto parts, the heavier the load , the more economic sense it makes to use boxcar over trucks or intermodal. I think another thing that will help boxcar traffic is the increasing congestion of the highway system, boxcars have the advantage of totaly avoiding the road congestion that is seriously impacting trucking reliability and efficiency, and with most states broke and the federal goverment stretched, the highway situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. I think you will see more boxcar to truck transload businesses develop in the future especialy if the class ones can improve transit time and reliabilty. Yes I'm a fan of the boxcar can't wait to see one of the new trailer train boxcars...