This was in the Journal of Commerce a few months ago. But I don’t recall any mention of it on this forum.
JB Hunt has changed from a strictly over the road operation to an intermodal focused operation. Schneider seems to be doing the same. Now all that is needed is for the temperature contolled truckers to catch the train in a big way
More rail freight = more rail income = stronger railroads.
As an occasional Interstate warrior, nothing was more of a PITA than a Schneider (not so) schnellwagen running at full, governed, speed - 10 mph below the limit and 15+ mph less than the flow of traffic.
Putting them on pig trains and getting them off Interstates through the heart of nowhere is a win-win.
As I’ve mentioned on another thread, trucking companies see very big savings by shipping loads over 600 miles via rail. Schneider made the decision to move that way several years ago and broke its intermodal operatilons away into a seperate division to accomplish that.
Industry-wide the move is towards average length of haul to being 600 miles or less, with companies operating in a regional format. This is in part to mesh with marketting of intermodal services and also to let drivers stay closer to home so that getting home every weekend is possible. That will make driver recruitment a bit easier, becase home time is a major turn-off issue for the trucking industry.
With that change taking place, drivers have seen their average length of haul go rom 1500 miles to less than 600 miles. In terms of a driver’s workload, it increases it because they now have to load/unload on a daily basis instead of every couple of days. But it does increase per truck productivity by moving more loads per week.
For east-coast based drivers it also means a more stressful driving environment every day. Far fewer loads leaving the region by truck to move drivers out of the pressure cooker for a mental break. If you’ve never dealt with it, there is a noticeable decrease in the pressure a driver feels as they get further away from the I-81 corridor int he north, and I-75 corridor in the south.
But the shift to intermodal will never be a complete shift of all long-haul track traffic. Some loads simpy do not lend themselve to being handled by rail, like beer. And other loads are too time-critical to spend time waiting at an intermodal terminal to be loaded and unloaded, sometimes a full day at each end, when a team-driven truck can keep moving almost 24hrs per day.
Plus rail is not as fast as it might seem. In a slow Schneider truck I’ve had to haul trailers halfway across the country to catch a train they missed.
As an occasional Interstate warrior, nothing was more of a PITA than a Schneider (not so) schnellwagen running at full, governed, speed - 10 mph below the limit and 15+ mph less than the flow of traffic.
Chuck,
As a Professional driver with over 24 years/ 2,000,000+ miles experience, you don’t even want to get me started on the UNSAFE practice of Split Speed Limits that so many states have. Here in Oregon it is a 55/65 split for trucks and cars, Washington is 60/70 and California is 55/70. There are even two lane highways like WA SR 14 that is a 60/65 split limit with at least one stretch of over 82 miles without an actual passing lane, some permissive passing zones, IF there is no opposing traffic, the close calls I have seen are absolutely SCARY, and the aftermath of some of the accidents, lets just say the EMS crews had tarps up to block the view.
The safest speed is the same for ALL Traffic, passing is one of the highest risk manuevers in driving, the limit should be set the same for every vehicle on a stretch of road. If you don’t want trucks exceeding 60 MPH, set the roads Limit at 60MPH, if you want cars to travel at 70MPH set the limit at 70MPH for ALL traffic. The biggest challenge has been, likely always will be getting smaller vehicles to ALLOW large vehicles to leave a decent space cushion between vehicles. The 385 Pete that I drive has a moderate slope nose hood, and I have people daily cut in front of me so close changing lanes, that I can’t even see their brake/tail lights, even with nobody behind them. Yep, some trucks are guilty of following too close, I wont deny it, but the large majority of insuffcient following distance is from vehicles changing lanes too soon after passing.
Engine speed governers are another pet peeve of mine. With a governer set too close to the speed limit, if a truck tries to pass a slower vehicle, the other vehicle will all too often accelerate just enough to prevent the truck from
While I have driven large vehicles (17 ton all-wheel-steerable tug with 90 tons of aircraft on a seven foot towbar) my freeway driving has all been with six wheels or less. I entirely agree with your comments. It seems that, in raising student self-esteem, our educators have neglected to teach basic physics. Nobody should have to be taught basic survival - but some people drive as if they’re acting out a death wish.
Those split speed limits always have struck me as causing more problems than they could ever cure. Most of them date back to the dark ages when truck brakes were of questionable capability, and were written by people with little road experience and less common sense. I wonder if a serious campaign to get them changed will ever be mounted.
I’ll always remember the day I discovered that the truck I’d rented for a cross-country move was engine-governed at 55 - just after the double nickel went away. I HATE being a rolling road block!
Legislators have this idea that passing a law will cause the 1%> problem drivers to comply. It never occurs to them that 99%< of drivers will be inconvenienced, and possibly endangered. Unfortunately, intelligence isn’t a prerequisite for election.
A numbr of years back, I was told by a gentleman in the Air Freight business a story about ‘Models’. Prestty much we are all aware of the story how Fred ASmith developed the Federal Express model, based upon a College paper he authored while in college ( Harvard ?).
The statemant was made in referencing the placement of a UPS HUb at Memphis (MIA). It happened to be across the runway from FedEx’s memphis Super Hub ( or what ever the most recent terminology is ?) UPS was pretty much following the model used by FedEx to place facilities to service its customers and operate most efficiently. Since both companies served a similar cilentele it paid then to locate facilities in the same area ( Lowes and Home Depot do also similar locations).
By extention of that rationale, Rail Service makes the same argument for the Package Delivery Industry. UPS was first to get into it with BNSF and FedEx came into the picture more recently in a major way. My location out here in South Central Kansas allows me to regularly observe traffic on the BNSF in both directions, so I have notic
That service is ideally suited for large volume shippers who ship between major urban centers. Once you get off the beaten path too far the cartage cost and handling cost of the containers diminishes or even eliminates the cost advantage of flanged wheel on rail. But the biggest obstacle that stands in the way of this taking more trucks off the road isn’t rail verses truck…it is big verses small. A small carrier (usually a trucking company) is far more responsive than a big box trucker or a railroad. I see it in my own business. Often I will get the order simply because someone in my office answered the phone on the second ring and was able to provide a price and equipment availability on the spot when the big guys take days and even weeks to come back with that same info. It’s like beating Usain Bolt in the 100 m dash because Usain showed up 2 weeks late for the race…winning by default is still winning.
My boss gets most of his Loads for one Reason he can and Will respond to his Customers in less than 1 hour for anything they DEMAND. We had one time one of our Larger Customer had a Maintance Issue at a plant in NY the Plant right by our Yard had what they needed to repair the Machine in NY plus enough Bottles to keep the Production line running while they Fixed the Machine that was Broke. In less than 30 Mins he had a Driver at the Plant and had him heading East on a Friday Night. The Other Carrier they used said Call US MONDAY we now haul 100% of all OUT BOUND US Bound Prouducts for that Company from the Plant near our Yard.
Yes a Huge Issue is Car Drivers that Forget that Drivers that are in Semis can not STOP or See as well as they think their Cars can. Right now my Boss is dealing with the After Effects of an Accident from a Car Driver that Suicide Dived and hit a Truck that was hauling a Tanker that was full of Acid. Luckily no Acid leaked but still the Headaches he is dealing with along with the Lawsuit is why all of the Fleet is Equipped with a 2 Min Auto Recording Outside Camera System and lets just say the Other party is NOT so happy right now.
The split speed limits and the governors on the trucks are a major headache. Interstate 65 between Lafayette In and Gary is absolutely a horror. 80 mph in the left lane and 64 mph in the right with trucks then pulling out to pass the 64 mph truck and taking 3 miles to do so. Meanwhile, cars cut to the front in the right hand lane and traffic is NASCARing bumper to bumper.
Read in this month’s Trains that CSX adn Schneider are expanding the Kansas City to Marion service to North Baltimore with the new turnouts at Galetia and Ridgeway.