The freight railroad industry has experienced many changes and technological advancements over the past 25 years, influencing operating strategies and traffic patterns. To help identify the major trends in railroad shipping patterns and how heavier carloads have evolved in the process, this quantitative study of North American freight railroad transportation investigates the trend of adopting heavier carloads over the years 1996 to 2019 with consideration of the impact of interchange operations, train types, and specific commodities. A literature review of previous studies related to the adoption of 286,000-pound gross railcar loads revealed research gaps currently exist and inspired this particular analytical research. Specific research questions and hypotheses based on railroad industry trends were investigated by detailed statistical analysis of carload waybill sample data. Results quantify how the railroads have shifted from 263k-pound cars to 286k-pound cars, and how the rate of adoption varies across different combinations of train type, involvement of interchange, and commodity shipped. For certain commodities such as chemical products, there appears to be potential for additional conversion of traffic to heavier axle loads, with corresponding increases in efficiency and energy and emissions benefits. However, for commodities such as coal and field crops using certain train operating types, the adoption of heavier railcars has plateaued, suggesting that substantial investments are required to convert remaining traffic, or alternative strategies, such as longer trains, are required to achieve further economies. Future work is required to further investigate the specific patterns observed within other commodity types, including the role of shortline interchange in limiting adoption of heavier railcars, and to extend the analysis to intermodal shipments.
Influence of Interchange, Train Type and Commodity Shipped on the Adoption of Higher Gross Rail Load Railcars by US Freight Railroads
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
2024-07-07
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Engineering Index Backfile | 1941
Multibody Model of Freight Railcars Interaction in a Train
Springer Verlag | 2023
|Online Contents | 2010
Online Contents | 2011