Re: Re:(erielack) Loose Car Railroading

[ShepRail_@_aol.com]

Paul,

    Probably the most significant improvement in transit time for general 
feight traffic I recall 
occurred around 1970 when EL redesigned its service to avoid intermediate 
handling of cars 
at Hammond, Indiana by using run-through power on trains such as AFST-100, 
RI-100, MILW-100, etc. This project was initiated by EL VPO Fred Diegtel and, 
while ostensibly an operating matter,
also turned into a marketing ploy allowing connecting carriers an opportunity 
to move their 
business on EL's "fastest freight schedules", hence the variations (ATSF-100, 
RI-100, MILW-100, 
et cetera). 

    With regard to your other observations about "loose car" railroading, 
generally most of these logistical problems can be addressed by better scheduling 
and closer adherence to trip plans. In
the alternative, time spent gathering loaded traffic at origin for movement 
in block to destination 
will cause bunching to occur and will likely result in additional handling 
with no improvement in car utilization overall. In the case of hazardous 
material shipments, most railroads are not keen on handling or holding this traffic 
any more than necessary for obvious reasons.   From a facility standpoint, most 
hump yards are not designed to efficiently pass blocks of cars.   Introducing 
additional classification functions at origin points and holding traffic 
there to perfect proper block size represent additional demands upon terminal 
capacity at times when some of these facililities 
are already fully subscribed.   A similar case could be made if final serving 
yards are required
to hold (and rehandle) bunches of traffic for customers whose facilties can 
only handle a few cars per day. While the foregoing comments apply to the 
movement of loaded traffic, the return movement of empty assigned cars in small 
blocks would only compound the issues mentioned
above and should be considered as well.

                                                                              
                           Bill




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