Options and insights (Was: Road to ruin/Railroad Fuel efficiency page
From: Daniel J. Lavigne <taxfree_at_taxrefusal.com>
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 12:10:15 -0400 "Michael Velik" <sawwhet_at_hometownu.com> wrote: Peter Cook> North America has a comparative advantage actually in that it doesn't really need RoadRailers, as most lines in North America can accommodate piggyback loading of standard truck trailers into well wagons.. Michael Velik> Piggyback loading into well wagons implies that you have well wagons (weighty and expensive) and cranes(even more expense). RoadRailers need neither, a single bogie for the wheels and the RoadRailer's air suspension does the necessary lifting. Peter Cook> One slight problem with non-standard trailers (beyond the technicality that there are so few of them and not much scope for them becoming an industry standard) is that they are heavier than standard trailers, as they need to be strong enough to haul a mile of train behind them.. Michael Velik> True enough the RoadRailers are heavier than the standard semi-trailer from http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/Equipment.html
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from
Tyical Tare Weight 15,800 lb (53') ... Yes it is a difference but 800 pounds in a tare weight of 15,800 so the RoadRailer weighs about 5% more. Now for some comparisons. Given the 80,000 lb gross weight maximum (by federal law in the US) a 15,800lb RoadRailer with a 15,000lb Tractor can haul 49,200 lbs compared to 50,000lbs for a road only trailer. That's 98.4 % of capacity. That holds true if mass is the limiting factor, if bulk is the limiting factor (ie. net weight of cargo is less than 49,200) then the capacity is identical to a conventional trailer. Considering the better energy efficiency of steel wheel on steel rail, the train does not have to go very far to be more competitive than just a straight truck haul.
Peter Cook > Due to their limited use, around here (Australia),
RoadRailers/Trailerail
Michael Velik> That may be true of Australia, but in the US, Canada and
now even Mexico there is already a significant number of RoadRailer
users. From
Who are some of today's RoadRailer customers?
NS subsidiary Triple Crown Services uses RoadRailers
for its door-to-door motor carrier service.
Howard Ande
The largest user is Norfolk Southern through its Triple Crown
network. They own about two-thirds of the RoadRailer trailers that are
out there. Their network is quite extensive. From a hub in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, they reach north to Toronto, south to Atlanta and Jacksonville,
east to Pennsylvania, west to Chicago and Kansas City, and even as far
south as Dallas and Mexico via an extension on the Burlington Northern
Santa Fe.
You also have BNSF itself, which is running mainly refrigerated RoadRailers between Los Angeles and Chicago. They're offering an extremely truck-competitive service. Canadian National runs daily RoadRailer trains between Montreal and Toronto, which is a very short-haul lane. Interestingly, another big RoadRailer user is Swift Transportation, which isn't even a railroad. It's a truck line. Swift is running a solid train of RoadRailer trailers up and down what's called the I-5 corridor, which is the Portland to Los Angeles run. They run an exclusive RoadRailer train twice a week that they buy from the railroad. So they are providing a truly truck-equivalent level of service using RoadRailer technology. In terms of high speed and high service, probably the most interesting is Amtrak, which is running an extensive network and quite sizable fleet of RoadRailer equipment on the back of its passenger trains to carry what is termed mail and express, which is essentially high-service, high-speed commodities. Actually, the RoadRailer equipment running on Amtrak is characterized by the Federal Railroad Administration as passenger equipment in terms of its operating characteristics. One of our newest users is TFM, which is a Mexican railroad that runs between Laredo on the U.S. border and Mexico City. They're using RoadRailer equipment really as the first domestic intermodal service in Mexico. We built them some special RoadRailer trailers for Mexican service. In 2001, we just built our 10,000th trailer, and today there are about 8,500 RoadRailer trailers running on railroads in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In addition, we are also using the RoadRailer technology across the globe. We're running in Australia, we're running in Europe, we're testing in Thailand, and we're testing in China. So it has become quite an international technology. ... 8,500 trailers is by no means a majority but it certainly is not insignificant. As fuel becomes more and more dear, rail freight will become more and more attractive once again and RoadRailers will be a significant part of it. To paraphrase Jay Hansons (?) "How could it be any different?"
Michael Velik
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