Rail road

Imo real otr coast to coast is dead, otr is a regional gig now. I just quit a otr job, no miles, layover pay,detension pay,30 to 90 days out, otr is for the rookie drivers now. I,m going back to jb running the rail yards in Chicago,20 for d-h, 30.00 for bumping a dock and shippers are fast to ld or unload, 14.50 after 1 hr det. break down pay. I can make more money working 5 days a week, than otr 7 days a week. There,s hot trains that leave Chicago, that team drivers will never beat, and there,s hundreds of refeer trls. in the rail yards. The rail system is taking over, but drivers are still needed to run loads in and out of the rail yards, to the surrounding states.

 

Rails ARE adding capacity by double-stacking trailers, becoming more efficient, widening tunnels/track and adding/refurbishing miles of track.
They get lots of $$$$ from the government to do so.
Whoever said rails don't do reefer hasn't spent much time at a railyard lately...they've been pulling refrigerated cars for awhile now.
I would not worry so much about the railroads than I would the 5 mil+ illegal aliens who stream across our southern borders every year.
These are the ones who will replace American drivers once Congress grants them CDLs in order to end the so-called driver "shortage".
Also, don't forget Mexican drivers who will soon be allowed to roll directly into the heartland as per the NAFTA agreement.

 

These assumptions that the infrastructure is not there, or can't be built, are incorrect. Many of the transcontinental lines are getting second or even third tracks added to them. Sidings are being lengthened, and signalling systems are being upgraded to allow trains to run closer together. There is a lot of capacity yet to be utilized.

But that doesn't mean the end of OTR trucking by any means. It does mean shorter average haul lengths, and more opportunities for driving teams. A trucking company can still offer dock-to-dock service between any two points in North America, and no railroad will ever be able to offer that.

 

Railroads now only serve 20% of the towns (not sure of the percent of population) in the US. Research and you will find that the railroads are now spending billions updating and they will want a return on their investment.

 

Remember, Panama Canal project will be widen the traffic lanes thur Panama. And some those large container ships will be able to thur. But trucking will be here.

 

I had a bumper sticker on my truck in 1974 that said "Don't Track It, Truck It" because everyone was worried back then that the railroads were gonna take trucks off the road and that we'd all be running local.

It didn't happen then and it isn't happening now!

One thing never changes though.....Truckers have always been a bunch of paranoid whinebags.

 

Well, as someone who pulls intermodal and deals with the railroads on a daily basis, let me chime in.

1. Essentially the railroads are an arm of the gov't. When they want to expand they want/get tax breaks or they don't do it or the relocate the facility or tracks. The BNSF has a huge maintanence facility in Alliance, Ne.. About 10 yrs ago, they told decided to expand the facility, but to do so, they wanted a massive tax break (they are the largest corporate tax entity in that town) or they would relocate. Initially the town balked, BNSF laid off 30 employees and started to review the future of another 30, the town gave in. BNSF expanded, but only marginally and hired back most of those 30. I see this in other small towns, as another poster said, there are fewer and fewer small towns with rail service. Typically, the railroads abandon the lines then use them for storage. Travel SW and SE Colorado and look at all the abandoned equipement parked on abandoned lines.

2. Abandoned lines, there are several ag. towns in SE Colorado that have no rail service, the railroads pulled out because they weren't profitable for them, all the grain has to be trucked to other locations for processing to be shipped, which has upped costs. Few years back, there was a huge back up of containers coming in during the ramp up for the holiday season. Consumers, retailers, etc. #####ed about it. Congress investigated (yeah right), the railroads claimed they didn't have enough equipment for the demand, and they need tax cuts to help them purchase new equipment. Really?, not enough equipment?. About that same time we were doing a lot of loads between Denver and Durango, along US 160 from Alamosa to beyond So. Fork., more than 50 miles of track, was parked intermodal cars. These cars sat there for over almost two years. The newspapers in the area did stories about it. When Congress was investigating, someone took pics and sent it to his rep., the UPRR was asked about this equipment. They tap danced the question. 3 months after Congress gave them the tax breaks they wanted, these cars magically disappeared. There was cars parked along US 287 in SE. Colorado as well, and along I-25 in New Mexico. The same situation holds in central Colorado in the mtn's, travel US 24 or US 285 and see the miles and miles of rail lines that railroads abandoned because they weren't profitable, and in the process put companies out of business.

3. Expanding, yeah, this is a good one. Colorado has been pushing the railroads to do something. For more than 20 yrs, the BNSF/UPRR have talked about relocating their intermodal ramps to outside the metro area to make it easier. For 10 yrs there was talk they would relocate to a combined facility in Watkins, Co. The town didn't want them, but the railroads were willing to spend millions to build the facility, expand the roads, improve the roads, etc., etc., but the town didn't want them. Finally a compromise was reached between the town, the railroad and the state. The facility would be built to the west of Watkins, road improvments would be made, a new overpass and ramps would be built. In exchange, the BNSF ramp would be sold to a combination of 4 companies already located around the ramp. The UPRR ramp would be sold to a join venture of RTD (mass transit) for bus and light rail. They would relocate most of the light-rail buildings, repairs, etc. to this new facility and a new bus facility would be located there. It would also serve as a hub for the expansion of light rail between Denver and Aurora as well as DIA, and the furture expansions to the N. and the W. as well as for the future (50 yrs or more out) high speed rail between Denver and the Mtn's. Yeah, well, that fell through, the railroad didn't like what was being offered and backed out. Now, they are planning to remodal the UPRR ramp, relocate the truck gates, in the process they are pissing off the City and the neighborhoods, and they don't care.

Also, Colorado is working on a program called fasttracks would be a highspeed medium rail, similar to the Railrunner in New Mexico and other cities, that would run from Denver Union Station eventually to Ft. Collins and then possibly to Cheyenne, Wyo. When proposed in the 90's and early 2000's, it would require the use of BNSF raillines that run that same area, as well as using part of their right of way to build new lines. THis has been an ongoing battle for more than a decade. The last thing I heard on it, it was shelved because the railroads want more money for the right of way and rental of the tracks than the program would bring in annually, even with tax subsidies to all parties. The same is holding true with the light rail expansion from Downtown to DIA, this is finally being pushed through on a slightly different route, but it's all because the railroads don't want to bargain.

 

I, like Striker pull intermodal. Almost everything I do is overseas containers that come from the ports via train, then delivered by truck. We work about a 300 radius of home, but most of what I do is within 150 miles. Trucks and railroads will always work together. The trucking companies are always looking for ways to reduce their overhead and increase profits, while also getting the good publicity of being "green". Look at the companies that utilize intermodal containers in their fleets: JB Hunt, Schneider, Swift, even some refrigerated outfits like Marten,etc. Many manufacturers are reducing their overhead by getting rid of warehouse space and going to JIT (just in time) manufacturing. Railroads can never serve JIT companies the way trucks do. All that said, trains cannot do what trucks do in service time, but trucking cannot compete with trains on a cost per mile basis. There will always be room for both.

 

You all missed the new industry rating for fuel efficiency announcement didn't you?

Gal/ton mile.

Think you can compete with a train on that basis your foolish. Trucks took over freight because they were more convenient than trains but way more expensive. With all industries looking to cut costs timely may loose out to cheaper.

BNSF spent how many millions to get those container yards in Memphis up to speed for increased inter-modal?

CSX is spending how much in Nashville??


Will it change tomorrow? No but a lot of freight will be headed to rail just on a cost control measure.

 

Don't worry.
As long as there's drivers willing and happy to work for .25 cpm and O/O wiling to haul for a buck a mile and lease-purchase idiots out there on the "Highpay" highway...you won't have to worry about the railroads.