For instance there are two coal trains I regularly see on the KD Subdivision here in Knoxville. One has GALX Johnstonw Aluminum hoppers, while the other uses CSX and NYC marked rotary gondolas.
Whadt etermines which type of car is used for those trains? Is it the receiver or CSX?
I think it depends on the consignee and what method they use to unload the cars with.
Many consignees now own their own car fleets. GALX cars are owned by the consignee. In providing the cars for the shipment, the consignee receives a rate reduction for having provided the cars, thus relieving the serving carrier(s) from having to invest in cars for the shipments. If the consignee needs more product than his own car fleet can handle then the additional product will be shipped in carrier provided cars at the higher rate. Many consignees do not own their own cars and carrier provided cars are used.
Most unit-train rapid-discharge hopper cars these days have rotary couplers, and can be unloaded just about anywhere. Gondolas, however, can’t be unloaded at plants that are designed for rapid-discharge hoppers unloading on a trestle.
Georgia Power, I’d venture to say, has a plant somewhere that requires hoppers (Georgia Power is the owner of the GALX reporting marks).
Determination is made by whoever designs the system being used then by the owner/user: loader, car, unloader. The railroad’s involvement could be a little as supply locomotive and crew to designing, owning, leasing, licensing, or selling the system to the user.
“Georgia Power, I’d venture to say, has a plant somewhere that requires hoppers (Georgia Power is the owner of the GALX reporting marks).”
Plant Scherer, North of Macon, and Plant Mitchell, South of Albany are at least two. Most likely Scherer, receiving 2 trains per day. Mitchell is very small and used for testing and such. Latest is talk of converting to wood waste.
Georgia Power has many plants throughout the state. CSX services several, one near Miledgeville, a plant just North of Tilford Yard in Atlanta and a plant outside of Cartersville. The plant near Milledgeville routinely gets 2-3 trains per week, sometimes more. The plant North of Tilford gets 1-2 trains per week. The plant outside Cartersville routinely gets 2-3 trains per day. Most all these trains are serviced by Georgia Power owned equipment. When necessary for the carriers to utilize their own equipiment for additional loadings, the equipment will be the kind that the consignee needs - flood dump, rotary dump - whatever is necessary.
GA Power recently announced plans to close a number of coal-fired plants (I believe 12-15) due to the cost and difficulty of modifying them to comply with new environmental regulations and the age of the plants. They plan to replace the generating capacity with two new nuclear units they have applied to add to Plant Vogtle near Augusta, which already has (I believe) two nuclear units. These were the first new nuclear plants in 30+ years in the U.S. for which a utility submitted an application.
And considering the hoops that will have to be jumped through to get the permits approved…it could be another 30+ years until that happens.
NS occasionally handles blocks of GALX cars to Yates, Wansley and Krannert power plants but hasn’t in the past 6 months or so.
Cars are cars. They go anywhere the engine pulls them.
Cars are also OWNED by someone. Some one bought and paid for them, and keep them maintained.
The Ethanol plant here in town is part of a cooperative that owns tank cars, If they are available, they are used, if they are not available the railroad will bring in any Ethanol tank car.
Grain cars, coal cars, same thing. They only make money when they are moving with product on board. If I do not need this trainload of coal, I still want the revenue from my equipment, and thus the railroad may use my cars to deliver coal to someone else. Guess what? I collect the car rental fees.
Usually, my cars (say DEEX) are kept in unit trains in service to my power plant, but if my plant is closed for maintenance, then they will be used wherever they are needed.
ROAR
Private owner cars such as DEEX or GALX, can only be used for non-Detroit Edison or non-Georgia Power movements when the owners trip lease the cars to another party for that party’s use. The cars belong to the owners who dictate their use. The leasing party will pay fees to the owner for the trip lease.
There are X cars that are owned by companies that supply ‘free runner’ cars to the railroads and make their money on the per diem and mileage fees that are paid by the carriers when the cars are on their property. UNPX and FURX are a couple of these kinds of reporting marks that spring to mind. These cars are distributed by the railroads and are used as their own cars.
David,
I do not see a comprehensive answer to your question so I will try one. Short answer is the receiver. Long answer is it is all negotiated and the receiver will ultimately decide.
There are two senses in which “type of car” may be used. The first is car type as used in the industry, gondola or hopper. The car type is driven by what the receiver, consignee in rail vernacular, is set up to unload. A rotary dumper is designed to unload gondolas with rotary couplers. I think rotary dumpers are more expensive and complex than a hopper car set up, but the cars are cheaper, simpler, and have no doors to maintain. Other customers are set up for, or select hopper car unloading systems. Hoppers have doors to maintain and have to be opened and closed somehow, but the unloading site and gear is simpler. In theory as part of the facility design the utility would determine what the least cost alternative was on a life cycle basis, including car capital and maintenance costs.
Once the plant is designed or built the issue of private versus railroad cars comes up. Traditionally, and except for tank cars, rail rates include railroad supplied cars. That is the default option. In fact you have two or three entities who could reasonably supply the cars: the railroad(s), the utility, or a car leasor. Each of them has access to the capital market and the ability to finance the cars. In theory, the entity with the lowest cost of capital should supply the cars. By doing so the total cost will be minimized.
In practice carriers will generally offer the utilities a rate reduction equal to what the railroad figures their cost of cars is. If the utility can finance them more cheaply they should do so and save the difference between the two costs. Particular facts in each case however may drive either party to perfer a particular solution, so there will be deviation from the theoretical position and this will be discovered in the freight rate