UP, CSXT to offer dedicated cross-country perishables service
Union Pacific Railroad and CSX Transportation are teaming up to provide a dedicated produce unit-train service between Washington state and New York. To launch in first-quarter 2006, the service will offer a 124-hour transit time with 55-car trains moving intact from origin to destination.
The unit trains will feature 64-foot refrigerated box cars, each designed to move perishables — including apples, pears, onions and potatoes — equal to four truckloads. The cars are equipped with enhanced insulation, energy-efficient cooling systems and Global Positioning System monitoring to control temperature.
Unit trains will originate in Wallula, Wash., and terminate in Albany, N.Y. UP and CSXT will interchange in Chicago. Railex L.L.C. will own and operate new loading and unloading centers, and manage product handling and distribution.
“We believe this new service will provide an alternative method to ship perishable produce from Washington to New York other than over-the-road transportation,” said John Philp, Union Pacific Railroad assistant vice president of food and refrigerated products, in a prepared statement.
About time! I’m happy to see that railroads are working together to add new service and also improve efficiency. If UP and CSX don’t drop the ball we could see a new trend here.
This is fantastic news. Good to see the railroads make a comitment to a service they sorta of lost interest in during years past. SPCaboose, hopefully maybe if market condition are right, UP will bring back the “Salad Bowl Express.”
This sounds like it’s a cut above the “Express Lane” service that UP and CSX now operate. The Albany destination mentioned almost certainly is Selkirk Yard. The big difference will (or should) be that the new trains apparently won’t be reclassified at North Platte, or have cars added to them at Proviso.
I’m hoping that it means that the train now serving this business east of North Platte will remain as a run-through freight to Selkirk, handling other manifest as well as perishables from other origins.
Dole is building a new plant here in NC that will be located next to the NS main line and Dole was looking for good rail service.They will be loading refers of package salad.
If it is one dedicated car set, and a round trip will be about 10 days (“124 hour transit time” = 5 days x 2), then that means it shows up at Wallula every ten days assuming everything goes right. You’re right, that is slow considering we’re talking about perishables. I guess the farmers will schedule their fruit & veggie picking once every ten days as well. If only Mother Nature would oblige and ripen the produce to the optimum level of ripeness prior to picking and shipping, then it’s all good.
Also, Wallula isn’t exactly situated in the heart of the fruit and veggie producing areas of Washington State, so that means commercial trucks will likely be the means to take the produce from farm to new loading center, which will add at least a day or two to the overall transit time. Too bad the railroads can’t utilize individual carloads from points in the Yakima Valley and rotate them into the consist when it manages to roll into the Wallula track, if for no other reason than to keep from having to move individual pallets from the trucks to the new warehouse to the new unit trains cars.
I wonder how this service will compare with the use of bi-modal technology like BNSF’s Ice Cold Express? Bi-modal technology would allow them to bypass the need for the distribution center, instead taking in truck shipments from existing outlying warehouses and forming them into co
And it ain’t all that slow. The “perishables” out of Washington State aren’t all that “perishable”. Apples, pears, onions, potatoes. They ain’t wilting like lettuce. Just keep 'em moving and you’ve got the deal.
The apples are the big deal. (something like 19 pounds of apples per person per year in the US) They go into storage after harvest and are shipped on an as needed basis to eastern markets. You can keep a good apple around for a while, if you treat it right.
“Forward Locate” them in Albany and you can offer overnight delivery to any grocer in the Northeast. (Inventory cost thing.) Store 'em in Yakima - or store 'em in Albany, don’t make no one no never mind. But if you can offer overnight delivery of Washington State fruit in the Norheast you B a winner!
At least they’re trying. For far too long the railroads have ignored the food markiet. Give UP/CSX a pat on the back. They’re giving it a try!
As for “bi-modal” technology. It has failed time and time again.
Who said anything about dedicated train sets? I saw nothing about it in UP’s press release. If these are the ARMN 110000 series cars, then once the order is filled UP will 1500 of these cars. If it takes 124 hours to get to the destination and 10 days to return, be inspected, cleaned, and repaired (if necessary), UP will need 825 of these cars, not including spares, for a daily train. I wonder if UPFE and other ARMN reefers will eventually get in these trains.
By the way I saw ARMN 111064 today, so ARMN 111111 should be coming out soon, or maybe it has been built already.
The statement that “bi-modal technology has failed again and again” is a bit presumptuous, given that the technology is still being tried out on a basis of slothful attrition by the railroads. We know that the modal transfer times using bi-modal are exceptional, in some cases saving days over pallet transfer. Bi-modal reefer trailers have more capacity than reefer containers, so it even beats COFC.
Frankly, given what we see in the success of Triple Crown vs the other operations, it is apparent that only by the prime directive of a trucking firm will bi-modal get a fair chance at success. Conversely, if we leave it to the railroads, they will surely find a way to turn lemonade into lemons and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I think you’re right about the trains’ makeup, Eric–wouldn’t be surprised to see other cars get in there, including the CRYX mechanical reefers, too. And don’t forget the 23000-series UPFE cars!
My information shows ARMN 111111 at North Platte now; no destination.