Shipping via Railroads

[Darkstar]

Rails are again being touted as the "new" efficient, cheaper way to ship:

Transportation brokers ease the load for companies shipping freight : Business News : Commercial Appeal

Darkstar

[jack knife]

i will believe this when i see a train back up to a dock and pick up 1 pallet

[pro1driver]

Originally Posted by jack knife

i will believe this when i see a train back up to a dock and pick up 1 pallet

they are still GOING TO NEED trucks to get from the rails to the buildings. not all companies have railroad tracks behind them.

then too, every friggin time there is some sort of "pricing problem" with gas or diesel, someone comes up with the railroad non-sense. by the way, did they even take into consideration the trains run on diesel....???

by the way, they now have a whopping 500 customers.....?????

this won't even make a sizeable dent into the trucking industry.

reminds me of the story about a warehouse owner trying to out smart an o/o.

behind the warehouse were railroad tracks, all rusty from years of non-usage.

the warehouser said, "you know, someday we won't need truckers, the railroads will take over".

the o/o said, "well someday ain't here, but i am, and its still going to cost you $1.50 per mile for the load".......

[wonderring99]

There is a company near me that leases EVERYTHING ... city trucks .. trailers ..fork lifts .... yard truck(horse) .. they use rail often. My buddy works for them and they can fill a rail trailer with 40,000 or 50 to 60 bills pending on the freight .. it only costs them $1500 to throw it on a rail to send it wherever ... that includes the purchase power getting it to a rail yard. Talk about a money pit.

[usftrucker]

Ease the load??? Unfortunately, I'm part of the YRCW family now, and system wide they have hundreds, maybe thousands of employees laid off currently. We have all the "easing" we can handle.

[Booboy]

I see more yellow,ups,and jb hunt trailers on the rail now than i saw less than two years ago.Rail can ease long haul freight for sure.