Swift Transportation

I was told the other day they are gonna cut about 2,000 trucks from thier fleet. Looks like there is gonna be a few drivers outta work. Not surprising.

 

Just getting done with training and orientation I can tell you that there are a lot of stories out there and that is what they appear to be so far. Granted there are a few things I do not care for, but overall things seem to be good. They got me home so I can be here with my wife as our baby wants to be born now and there are 7 weeks to go, so I have a chance to find out what is going on before I go out with my mentor for six weeks. I can also split that six weeks up to make it here for the birth if she does not deliver early while I am at home now.

They are not laying off drivers. I was at the terminal, listened to people talk, and nothing of the sort was even brought up and there were no notices anywhere. Also staff said they were not laying off.

The investigation in Tenessee is with the DOT department that is attached to the Swift Academy there, not Swift itself. Training is still going on there, so if it was Swift then the company as a whole would not be able to train.

I seen people sent home because they could not do what was required to drive a truck. My class started out with about 40, there were 26 of us that got our CDL's.

I will be posting more on my entire experience later, but for now I have things to do around the house

 

This is a rather strange picture, indeed. I've never seen a setup like this. Let me see if I have this right...a SwiftCo wagon is actually attached to a set of traintrucks on this train? What kind of wagon is it? It must be reinforced somehow. The weight of all the cars behind it is being applied to the box itself, both when pulling and when stopping. Surely there is some sort of train car the box is resting on that is actually absorbing the stresses.

Maybe it's just a setup that is used in the marshalling yard?

Set me straight here, people. Surely the flimsy box isn't the traincar.

 

Roadrailers

 

I'm not sure if its reinforced or not but triple crown in Fort Wayne, IN gets a train load or trailers with that set up every day

 

Those trailers are supposed to be on flatbeds of the rail car. The trailers that are pulled that are rail trailers that do get loaded off the chassis are a heavier trailer, and go on a chassis to be pulled the the semi, which overall makes it heavier than what is in the picture. I would not know for sure but I would not believe that would be used for long distance or at all.

I can say from being in rail yards, there are many companies who haul their trailers on cars of a train (flatbed type), and all the swift ones I have seen are the containers that disconnect from the chassis and sit flat on one of those cars.

People say we will not have freight because of the use of trains, but the cargo has to get to and from the train somehow.....

 

If you look close, the tires are kinda flat on the bottom like they are still carrying the weight of the trailer. Looks like someone just photoshoped the flat car out of the picture...or maybe its just me.

 

Triple Crown uses this setup here in Saginaw ,TX. Trailers are heavy duty so they can stand the pulling when they "stretch" the train. They hire locals OO's to deliver and p/u. Tractor can weigh about 17,500 max. They are different from normal TOFC operations.

 

I went through the orientation and became a Swift qualified trainer. When I told the driver fleet manager I needed two weeks notice for my current employer. She said: Swift does not give notice to previous employers. She was rude and claimed trucking companies do not care about ethics or morals. This was their Oklahoma City terminal and I noticed all the staff was extreamly unhappy. I chose to finish my two week vacation and return to Mamo Transportation for less money. At least they faked being happy at work and deserved proper notice.

 

Tip, Ya you see it right those trailers are made for just that. They are heavy duty trailers. When I was in training in 03 my trainer warned me not to hook to these trailers they are only for trains. I believe Swift is discontinuing them as I have been seeing less of them in the yards.