How to Increase Rail Capacity

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CrazyDiamond

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

Trucks will go long haul over the road when
1. There is no corresponding parallel functional rail line between the same points e.g. Boise to Reno, Billings to Lewiston ID, et al.
2. There is a parallel rail line but capacity constraints have forced a shift back to over the road trucking e.g. Boise to Portland
3. The load is too small to effectively move by rail, even TOFC
4. The load in question has some characteristic of specificity that precludes transport by TOFC et al.
5. Time constraints of the load in question preclude the inherent terminal delays of TOFC.

My response to each of those five points is: "Not all the time."

As I stated, there are exceptions to any rule of thumb

QUOTE: A railroad company and a trucking company both make a presentation to me and my team.

This is where your brain goes into freeze, because you most likely don't have BNSF and UP right alongside JBHunt and Swift bidding for your transportation needs. More likely you have a multiple of trucking companies and 3PL's, some strictly over the road, others who utilize TOFC. If the railroad is involved at all, it is in conjunction with it's trucking or 3PL partner.

The rest of this unlikely scenario..........

QUOTE: The RR company tries to 'sell' me using reasons why their train model will be best for me. The trucking company does the same. Both point out inherent weakness in the competitors 'solution'. Through our discussions I learn that thr trucking company will pick my stuff up at the door and drive it to my buyer, 100% by truck no rail. I also learn that the RR company will build trackage to my facilities, and to my buyer facilities, and I'm impressed with their willingness to come to me to get the business. However after I give it all due evaluation, I find the trucking company proposal more attractive, and award them as winner of the tender. 50 containers a month, 2400KM or parallel route, 100% by truck, 0% by train.

......is speculation unattached to any specific commodity or movement. It is commodity specificity which most often leads to a preference for carload rail or over the road truck. If you are CEO of a coal fired power plant, you're not evaluating trucking companies right alongside rail companies. If you are CEO of Schneider, you're evalutating your customer needs on one hand and the transporation options (over the road or TOFC) on the other. You are not choosing between trucking and rail for moving those 50 containers per month, you are instead choosing the logistics company that offers you the best price and delivery schedule. You are not privy to whether those containers move over the road by truck or via TOFC/COFC. You don't care. It's none of your business how it goes, only that it goes right.

QUOTE:
Anyway, I'm done with this arguement.....few are agreeing with you so that should tell you something. I'm going back to the 'increasing rail capacity' discussion if that is still going on.

Well, no one of knowledge is agreeing with you either, but that's not the point, is it? I personally don't care if forum participants agree or not, only that they take into consideration a more enlightened way of thinking about these issues.

[CrazyDiamond]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

You are not privy to whether those containers move over the road by truck or via TOFC/COFC. You don't care. It's none of your business how it goes, only that it goes right.

Okay one last post:

Yeah right, tell me its none of my business when I hear frequently in the news of train derailments by a certain RR, and long delays in RR yards. It is very much a bosses job to know how his stuff goes.....cause when he signs a contract, and stuff goes wrong, his bosses (the board) will want to know how this happened. When they find out he ignored 'these known problems' he found during his due diligence, he will hear Donald Trumps famous words "you're fired". It is very much his job to know all there is to know about the consequences of his decisions.