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Re: John wasn't making a case for rail truck substitution. He was noting the truck volumes.
Author: BOB2
Date: 08-05-2022 - 20:38
Bob Breachman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JOhn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There are a lot of semis moving between vegas
> and the basin. (John wrote originally)
>
> Then why doesn't UP run a dedicated piggyback
> shuttle train between Vegas and L.A., like what
> DRGW did for a while between Denver and Salt Lake
> City, CP did for a while between Toronto and
> Montreal and SP did for a while between City of
> Industry and Phoenix?
>
> Do you want to know why? Because there's no money
> in it. Inter-modal doesn't make any money on
> short hauls.
Yes, you are right. But John never asserted any solution, he merely pointed out a fact. That on a two through lane interstate highway there are a lot of semi trucks, because it is significant truck corridor.
Many a time have I explained your finding to innumerable elected officials who proposed this "obvious" simple solution in my second RR career. The theory doesn't pencil for intermodal at distances less than 750 to 1200 miles, except maybe with some sort of rare pre consolidated bulk container loading to some single destination. The economics of competitive rail versus truck ranges will vary based on competing costs for trucks (and subsidies like unpaid highway damage).
There are two important factors. One is higher "fixed"-"break bulk" and "consolidation costs (the costs collecting, sorting, loading, assembling the train, unloading, sorting, distribution in terms folks outside of academia will understand).
Moving that those loads over longer distances offsets those "fixed costs", and at the "brek even point" the containers start making money for the carrier Short hauls don't reach that breakeven point.
But the second factor is transit time. Given the often increasingly dipersed "off line" nature of short distance truck hauls (dispersed industrial parks, warehousing, retail destinations) "door to door" transit times are just faster, and this favors trucks, especially for high value and time sensitive shipments.
The short distance/high passenger miles/high volume Brightline passenger service would create more truck space on I-15 and speed up trucks, by removing competing auto trips.
-------------------------------------------------------
> JOhn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There are a lot of semis moving between vegas
> and the basin. (John wrote originally)
>
> Then why doesn't UP run a dedicated piggyback
> shuttle train between Vegas and L.A., like what
> DRGW did for a while between Denver and Salt Lake
> City, CP did for a while between Toronto and
> Montreal and SP did for a while between City of
> Industry and Phoenix?
>
> Do you want to know why? Because there's no money
> in it. Inter-modal doesn't make any money on
> short hauls.
Yes, you are right. But John never asserted any solution, he merely pointed out a fact. That on a two through lane interstate highway there are a lot of semi trucks, because it is significant truck corridor.
Many a time have I explained your finding to innumerable elected officials who proposed this "obvious" simple solution in my second RR career. The theory doesn't pencil for intermodal at distances less than 750 to 1200 miles, except maybe with some sort of rare pre consolidated bulk container loading to some single destination. The economics of competitive rail versus truck ranges will vary based on competing costs for trucks (and subsidies like unpaid highway damage).
There are two important factors. One is higher "fixed"-"break bulk" and "consolidation costs (the costs collecting, sorting, loading, assembling the train, unloading, sorting, distribution in terms folks outside of academia will understand).
Moving that those loads over longer distances offsets those "fixed costs", and at the "brek even point" the containers start making money for the carrier Short hauls don't reach that breakeven point.
But the second factor is transit time. Given the often increasingly dipersed "off line" nature of short distance truck hauls (dispersed industrial parks, warehousing, retail destinations) "door to door" transit times are just faster, and this favors trucks, especially for high value and time sensitive shipments.
The short distance/high passenger miles/high volume Brightline passenger service would create more truck space on I-15 and speed up trucks, by removing competing auto trips.
