Not Coal.
In the 1990’s, and late 1980’s, we received polyol, shipped by Bayer in Brownsville Texas to GM Oshawa, Ont. A 180,000 lb load normally took six days to arrive.
A 40,000 lb truck load with 2 drivers took between 40 and 48 hrs. The railroad was cheaper and therefore preferred.
Then our plant got a new owner and he had the rail spur taken out, because the deal had been that the plant paid the federal taxes on the spur, and he refused.
Dave
Dave, Coal is even worst then other freight a unit coal train average speed is a scorching 16-25 mph…If there is coal mixed in a manifest then the average speed is 16-30 mph.
These average speeds is noted on weekly performance reports that is produce by the AAR and the average train speeds will vary from road to road…
As far as spurs,the warehouse where I worked own the spur and the majority of the industries I switched when I worked as a brakeman the railroad’s track ended at the gate or 2 car lengths from the derail.
Our ETT had lots of restriction notes due to the condition of a industry spur and those restrictions could cover the weight of the locomotive and car…One industry’s track was embargoed after several derailments… Mind you this was between 66-69 and 78-84.
No wonder their are many wrecks with big rigs.
I went to the doctors today in Mansfield on US.30 and I was running the legal speed of 70 and was still being passed by cars and 18 wheelers.
The good part I finally seen a Ashland Ry GP38.
Just for clarity, the speeds reported to the STB and AAR are average speeds over the whole trip, from departure at origin to arrival at FINAL destination. They include all intermediate stops for train meets, crew changes, set outs, pick ups, and fueling. Just because the average speed is 30-40 mph that doesn’t mean they aren’t moving at 70 mph on the main track.
The premium intermodal product is competitive, timewise, with long distance trucks.
Coal has no time constraint. There is no benefit to the customer to get coal 6 hours sooner and there is a HUGE cost increase moving bulk commodities at high speed.
The book Rails to Penn State refers to Penn State being angry with the PRR and Bellefonte Central that it took two weeks for coal to make that trip. It was 28 road miles from the mine at Snow Shoe PA and a truck could do it in under two hours.
True only because they don’t spend hours standing still because of terminal dwell time still,a truck is faster due to the average IM speeds,lack of a rested crew and other things like crews hitting the law in the boon docks.This is why UPS screams the loudest.
Sure a IM may hit 70 for a short distance if the track speed permits such running but,there are other things that kills that dreamy, starry eyed 70 mph track speed.
Gotta go with AAR’s average speeds since they gain their knowledge from the information given by railroads…
Chessie had a coke plant customer located in Catlettsburgh Ky that shipped coke to Ashland Steel in Russell Ky-around 10 miles… 24 hours from pick up to delivery.
The oddity the crew was called out of Huntington,W.Va and the coke was taken into Russell yard and set there until the next day.Ashland Steel is just East of the Russell yard and could have been set out there instead of taken to the yard.
Chessie should have used a shuttle train out of Russell since these train was 100-150 cars in length and could have been picked up and delivered the same day…
Gotta go with AAR’s average speeds since they gain their knowledge from the information given by railroads…
On the other hand I’ve been part of teams that have built the measurement systems that create the data that a railroad gives to the STB and AAR. Their velocity is an average that includes all the stopped and dwell time and includes all varieties of intermodal, so a train that is loaded with UPS is in the same measurement bucket as a train of nothing but bare platforms as is a train of international containers as is a train of empty containers.
Dave,Be that has it may… I know we have all passed IMs at legal highway speeds. I’ve even paced them at 45 mph.
I still say the average speed for a IM is spot on.
Ever see those old signs from yesteryear along the ROW that read 50/40? 50 mph passenger 40 mph freight. The last speed marker I saw was on CSX was 45 mph.