Riding the Rail

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.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has expanded the intermodal Equipment Management Program (EMP) to include the Minneapolis market through an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway.

The EMP service extension provides domestic shippers with daily expedited service between Minneapolis and Atlanta, Cincinnati, Miami, and Jacksonville, Fla. At Minneapolis, EMP operates through Canadian Pacific Railway's Shoreham intermodal facility.

EMP is an intermodal container program that offers integrated equipment supply and transport management for long-haul, domestic freight. Its cornerstone is a shared responsibility between railroads and customers--including intermodal marketing companies, logistics companies, and motor carriers--to improve equipment utilization. It is operated by Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and Conrail and involves more than 11,000, 48-foot containers that move over the three railroads under EMP customer control.