QUOTE: Originally posted by bcrailex OK Gentlemen, Here's the word I've gotten form UP for our symbology: ZWASSP Z for highest priority despite no containers ( A term of our contract) WA Walulla SS South Schenectady P Perishable So I guess we are the Wasp train, better than a bee, we can keep biting...LOL Was in the S Schenectady yard today reviewing plans for our interlocking switchgear (There is a twin main continuing on to Selkirk, depending on traffic the unit train could end up on either track, so we need to install switches and a crossover to feed into our lead). It's a great place to train watch! In fact there were several people there w/cameras in hand hoping for something interesting heading into Selkirk.Regards, Bill
QUOTE: Originally posted by rrandb If this works it will raise the bar for everyboby. Imagine produce receiving the same priority as Asian dry goods. LOL[:O]
Awesome. Thanks!
Washington has a facility for loading of the train?
From what I remember of the Yakima Valley I recall using maps to pick out among the 40 or so shippers in town and other places that had scattered loading truck areas (And .15 cent/pound apples at warehouse stores)
Who has to think about deploying the empty train at WA for loading and return to NY?
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
bcrailex wrote: OK gents....first train scheduled to roll 10/12 out of WA arriving in NY on 10/17. Was someone looking for ARMN 111111?? We got close, we've got 111110 as part of our consist in one set; No word on the other 55 yet. Cars are pooling in our loop track now, we are doing test cars as conventional service until the go date.B
I'll say it again - this is HUGE. I see it as the most promissing railroad marketing effort since the introuduction of double stack service.
There is a tremendous volume of fresh fruits and vegetables moving long distances (as in 3,000 miles) by truck. This business should be on the rail. The only reason it largely went over to truck movement was the asinine government regulation of rail rates (the truck rates were never regulated).
Someone needed to put together a plan to get the perishable business back. These guys seem to have done that..
And remember one very important thing. Every truck that doesn't roll eastbound with a load of apples won't be going back westbound with a load of anything. (truckers tend to be loaded in both directions.) When the truck's not there for that westbound load, that westbound load will also go over to rail.
I love this!
Without going back thru 6 pages and checking, does anyone know what the anticipated number of cars per train will be?
I am with g'hound, this is huge.
Also, it is probably way premature but does anyone know the symbol for the CSX portion of the train and a preliminary schedule. I wouldnt mind catching the first one thru.
ed
Huge only if the attempt succeeds. So far all I've seen is speculation and wishful thinking.
Things always look good on paper being a fact. On time performance being a huge drawback
in the endeaver of Rail vs Trucking being widespread concerning produce.
I'm still curious as to which route this train will take out of Wallula. When I drove up I-84 through Eastern Oregon recently, there were trains parked everywhere along the UP line e.g. it looked like things were rather congealed. How is a new time sensitive service like this going to keep to the schedules with the current state of congestion along the presumed route?
Also, is that the new facility just north of the rail-to-barge grain elevators and just south of the paper mill? Saw quite a few white-ish rail cars (presumably reefers) parked at Wallula Junction.
RABEL wrote: I am with g'hound, this is huge. Huge only if the attempt succeeds. So far all I've seen is speculation and wishful thinking. Things always look good on paper being a fact. On time performance being a huge drawback in the endeaver of Rail vs Trucking being widespread concerning produce.
Absolutely right! You gotta' make it happen. But it's more than speculation and wishful thinking. It's a solid business plan that has attracted the necessary investment - and people aren't throwing their money away. The railroads can handle fresh fruits and vegetables. Asinine Federal economic regulation almost totally drove them out of the business. Once a business structure like that is destroyed, it takes time and effort to restore.
It's being restored. According to the USDA these are the 107 TOFC loads of FF&V that the railroads rolled out of California on September 14th. It's about 1/10th of what the trucks hauled, but it's a start.
I've seen solid business plans fail the investors.
There's a reason why trucking has the 90% share of shipments,it's more reliable,efficient
and cheaper. There's more involved in shipping produce than coal, I doubt the rails are willing to increase the manpower or infrastructure to what could be a low profit margin.
The cost of replacing Temperature controlled shipments is another factor. The recievers are
"picky" when it comes to produce.
If I remember correctly, these will be 56-car trains.
Rabel, it sounds to me like the railroads aren't going to be responsible for any infrastructure, save for the connecting switches (and the cars, which already exist). And temperature control of the shipments, with remote detection (and often correction) of the problems, is certainly far removed from when railroads lost or gave up this business.
RABEL wrote: I've seen solid business plans fail the investors. There's a reason why trucking has the 90% share of shipments,it's more reliable,efficient and cheaper. There's more involved in shipping produce than coal, I doubt the rails are willing to increase the manpower or infrastructure to what could be a low profit margin. The cost of replacing Temperature controlled shipments is another factor. The recievers are "picky" when it comes to produce.
You forgot one thing.
Truck Drivers must endure waiting. Ive waited up to 70 hours or more 20 feet from the dock as they literally gathered and blast chilled my specific load out of the fields.
Trains only need to present the reefers to load and be on time cross country. They have good resources and need not risk safety from tired trucker trying to get to Hunts Point NY in 70 hours after waiting 70. That means no sleep for 5 days to get it there on time.
Yes you have teams to run 24/7 (Been there done that) but you cannot get around the waiting. The waiting is uptime that is spent awake and earning no pay. I think weekly 40-60 hours is spent at the dock waiting for the produce to load.
Hurry up and wait LOL.
Trains dont wait. They are gone and when thier crew hogs out on the law, another crew is sent out.
Even the best trailers fail from time to time. Ive sat on top of landfills dumping 45,000 pounds of now stinking rotted produce that just costed someone alot of cash.
I look forward to the results of this run when it completes successfully.
The "Train" could be a successful venture the way it's planned. My comments were
aimed at a TOFC segment replaceing OTR. Sorry for the confusion.
The "rails" gave up the temperature controlled TOFC business as it wasn't cost effective.
The labor costs were too high. The OTR segment has the free labor (Drivers) to detect and correct
any problems.
You have satellites now watching reefers on trailers and railroads. If there is a temp or fuel problem a local Carrier or similar can be alerted and set out to meet the "Sick" unit either trackside or in the next facility while the load is in transit.
The so called Free Labor off the drivers may not last too much longer as the singles flee the scene and teams migrate to constant 24/7 of other cargo that keeps them loaded and rolling.
greyhounds wrote:It's being restored. According to the USDA these are the 107 TOFC loads of FF&V that the railroads rolled out of California on September 14th. It's about 1/10th of what the trucks hauled, but it's a start. APPLES 1 BROCCOLI 8 CANTALOUPS 8 CARROTS 10 CAULIFLOWER 3 CELERY 9 GRAPEFRUIT 2 GRAPES 7 GRAPES-MIXED JUICE 5 HONEYDEWS 2 LEMONS 3 LETTUCE-ICEBERG 10 LETTUCE-ROMAINE 5 ONIONS DRY 4 ORANGES 16 PEPPERS 3 SWEET POTATOES 4 TOMATOES 5 WATERMELONS, SEEDLESS 2 107 http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wa_fv568.txt
http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wa_fv568.txt
I was looking at some of those statistics and noticed that for most commodities, the carloads shipped by rail is down from the same time last year for almost all commodities. The page I bookmarked last night (http://marketnews.usda.gov/gear/docexch/download/FV20060831Ddaily_move.pdf) has Access Denied when I tried to go to it today. Below is another page I pulled up.
http://marketnews.usda.gov/gear/docexch/download/CA_FV400.TXT
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