You can thank the safety minded self-insured companies raking in the savings on having casterated… err… governed rigs.
Scrap the draconian schedules and you will find that many drivers will slow down and cruise instead of fighting to be first to the rush hour gridlock.
And finally I lay the blame on Governments too cheap and thrifty to build proper 3 and 4 lane freeways and all must elbow each other through 40 year old obselete two laners with split speed limits retired 25 years ago no less.
I say build a ternimal… in Omaha and another in … Seville and stick everything moving through on a train between those two points. By pass the interstates all together and reduce the Costs, risk by the number of drivers and tractors not needed to handle that traffic.
Years ago we had a system in the lab where the first driver and his rig was connected to 10 more behind him or her by way of duplex communicating software using digital Microwaves to carry the signal from master vehicle to all the other slaves in the assigned group. The idea was to have one driver drive allowing the other 9 to sleep or the whole thing running by computer only on dedicated pavement isolated completely from the problems associated with today’s drivers and cars on the interstates.
Later on we had more horsepower availible and were able to bypass I-70 and other roads completely. Or planned our transit at 3-
…It appears the rigs with “governed” speed are quite able to still drive the speed limit. Some action from the drivers, beyond that, should be to use common sense and not creat these “strings” of units that as I mentioned above start to “try” to pass one another and tie everyone up on the slightest grades.
If trucking co’s. impose these “restraints” on such rigs, and drivers then have to push every corner of the envelope to make a living…it’s time for some of these rigs to move to rail transport.
Truckers and vacationers competing for the same space under peak and summer driving situations can be on the edge for most of the trip across a stretch of interstate and it’s just a matter of time until something happens and injury or worse is the result. Railroads are available to haul large and heavy commerce…Let’s use them.
We’re more specific than that… we wish it was 15 miles northeast. After all, you don’t want Indiana getting stuck with it… said the man wearing his cheese head hat. [;)]
They usually can if attention is paid to the engine’s specific power chart versus the transmission that is actually used. If it is done right the speed will be set somewhere ahead of high horsepower in the truck’s top gear and allow for lugging down to torque.
The rest of the issue for consideration basically goes back a number of years where Schnider, JB Hunt and others of that range failed to consider the terrain and became a liability, blocking the right lane and slowing everyone down.
But that was then. Trucks are built with a goal that they are “Driveable” without excess shifting down to keep it against the govener.
With railroads we dont have to worry about any of that.
Thanks for the info guys much appreciated might be a good idea to railfan the W&LE during the day then head for marion ,oh in the evening to watch the westbound depart. I am wondering if the power off the eastbound intermodel lays over for the westbound.
The power does layover at the Marion Industrial Center. Usually behind the warehouses, but not on the ramp. Marion Industrial has an SW1200 / 1500 - something like that and I think a GE 44 tonner. They’re usually out doors as well.