“Pallet load is not competing with the railroads”… “Yes, it does compete with the railroads’ freight operations… small shipments that have been consolidated by organizations such as UPS, FedEx, ABF, YRC, etc.”
It is not the type of loading, container, trailer, or pallet, that determines if the two offerings would compete, but rather the length of haul and nearness that the rail haul can deliver to the ultimate destination.
The current O-D pairs for intermodal are nowhere near the “center” of the freight makert, as the offerings by the the Class-1 are only focused on the easiest fruit to grab (which they should be for their investors), but if the US is going to run a passenger train of pretty much any type, that stops near centers of commerce that the long haul, non-stop intermodal train bypass, they can and should serve a market that is not in competition with the existing offerings to reduce financial loses.
Amtrak already offers pallet load express, with no apparent protest form the freight railroads.With its access to urban centers in the NEC, plus its 125 mph trains , i would have thought the NEC would be a market Amtrak has an advantage in .
Where and with what equipment is ATK operating “pallet load express”?
I did not find it mentioned on ATK’s web site, which proves nothing. I did find they have only 64 baggage cars and zero express or freight cars.
If they are offering this service on the NEC of course the freight carriers would not object, that is ATK’s railroad and they can do anything they please on it.
The freight carrier’s problem with the original proposal is; they have less than zero desire to get back into the tar pit of passenger service, and they do not want their physical capacity used by ATK to compete with their freight service.
Can’t see baggage cars on NEC trains, most have very short dwell time at stations. Even during the height of private passenger operations most mail and express was handled on secondary or dedicated mail trains. You did not see much head end business with an exception of RPO on the premier trains. At the end neither what was left of the mail contracts or the rea saved the day.
If the post office goes back to mail on trains it will be some form of intermodal service with the freight carriers.
Let Amtrak concentrate on people not freight. In the end it will not affect the bottom line much
Again, I must stress I am not suggesting this program for Amtrak. I have suggested it to All Aboard Florida and notified them where to find this Forum thread. If they are intersted, they will pursue the idea in their own way. Then, if they ae successful, and if the lessons they apply can be applied to the national passenger network, Amtrak may end up owned by the railroads and not by the Government. With or without the program I have suggested. A lot of ifs!
I AGREE Again, the only way that Amtrak could offer the service would be if Amtrak is owned by the railroads, and this would be possible only if All Aboard Florida is successful AND if its lessons are applicable elsewhere. And that All Aboard Florida does develop the idea. Three big ifs.
As I recall, an important component in the AAF plan is land development, as well as a federal loan. Not sure how well that translates to other non-corridor areas.
This is a small package service between 100 stations, obviously beyond NEC. It seems consistent with historical express service and looks to involve less than a baggage car per train, two reasons the freight carriers do not care.
The pallet load express is handled in the baggage cars. It is only carried between Stations that have A “heavy express” classification. Pretty much major terminals , or major station with forklifts
What makes you think all aboard Florida wants to be in the package delivery business. High speed rail is all about getting from point a to point b as fast as possible. Any kind of head end business would add to station dwell time. Making high speed rail low speed and making their trains less competitive with cars and planes.
And why would any one think the big 7 railroads would want to own Amtrak " jointly " like they owned Pullman? We all know how that ended, with Pullman being dissolved by the railroads that owned it.
And lastly why would ups or fed ex want to move thier packages by passenger train. They have a profitable business model now with out risking billions of dollar in questionable scenario involving passenger trains.
This would also go for the freight rail roads, which had to pay to join Amtrak at its conception. Why would they want to spend billions of thier shareholders money to re enter a money losing business to haul freight on passenger trains which they already move on thier most profitable freight trains.
Just don’t think moving freight on Amtrak is a viable option.
I would cetainly agree that there is no indication that AAF has any interest in package and express. If anything, as others have commented, the real “play” appears to be real estate (like so many rail projects in history!). Though it should be noted that the controlling FEC RR is a freight carrier …
More interesting are the comments about dwell time. While true, there is a compromise possibility – baggage and express service only between the endpoints. I know of at least one historical precedent (though I’m sure there are others) – when Southern Pacific instituted the original Daylight (later the Coast Daylight) on a much hotter schedule than its predecessors, checked baggage was only handled at the endpoints, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
There is also the possibility of a dedicated high-speed freight service, such as was, until recently operated in France as TGV-Postes. Amtrak could operate such on the NEC, and AAF on its own lines, without claims of unfair competition from “host” “freight railroads”.
My response is that AAF may want to expand its business to include anything that will maximize the bottom line. Especially if UPS and/or FedEx are interested, they may wish to provide the service, since it would bring in extra income without materially increasing expenses. Consider it a useful and profitable byproduct to the main business.