Riding the Rails

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/1/1998

As highway congestion increases, more and more shippers are looking at rail and intermodal services as a competitively priced, efficient alternative. To help draw new customers and better serve existing ones, rail and intermodal companies are adding new services, increasing the amount of equipment, offering new software, and providing new and updated reference materials. Below is a sampling of some of the newest equipment and services available today.

This year, Amtrak Intercity has reintroduced its "Express RoadRailer" service--a bimodal service incorporating rail and highway transportation for the movement of time-sensitive shipments.

Amtrak first began the RoadRailer service from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Mich. The Amtrak Express RoadRailer facility in Grand Rapids now serves as the rail/highway transfer point in the movement of time-sensitive shipments between western Michigan and various points throughout the nationwide Amtrak system. In addition, Amtrak has introduced its express service in the Chicago-to-Philadelphia and Chicago-to-Albany lanes.

According to the company, by combining the speed of Amtrak passenger trains with the convenience of dock-to-dock shipping in the same trailer, Amtrak RoadRailer units provide fast transit times at costs below typical highway carrier rates.

Amtrak operates 291 RoadRailer units, and recently, the company deployed its first eight temperature-controlled, 48-foot "ReeferRailer" units to provide service on the Philadelphia-Chicago-St. Paul, Minn., and Philadelphia-to-Jacksonville, Fla. corridors, marking the first time ReeferRailers have been put into service on passenger-train schedules.

With the addition of the ReeferRailer units, the company says this service provides perishables shippers with a fast, reliable, and reasonably priced alternative to the all-highway movement of time-sensitive goods.

Dock-to-dock transit times of less than 24 hours are available to shippers in the Philadelphia-to-Jacksonville and Philadelphia-to-Chicago lanes.