Transportation's Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions ...

Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Volume 2
carrier that increases the number of containers it transports over its 2008 levels
(Journal of Commerce On-Line, 2009).
• Logistics Parks – Facilitating development of logistics parks. Logistics parks,
sometimes dubbed “freight villages,” cluster distribution and assembly facilities
around a rail terminal to minimize the amount of time and truck travel needed to
collate goods arriving from global and national suppliers and by train and dispatching
loads tailored to the needs a specific store by truck. There are a number of examples of
logistics parks in Europe, and CSX is pursuing this strategy in the Southeastern U.S.
• Container Standardization – Establishing greater standardization of intermodal boxes
and trailers. While standard box sizes are common for ship and rail modes, trucking
has used a variety of trailer payload configurations; these reduce the multibox
capacity of intermodal transportation by rail and ship. Standardization has been
proposed by the European Commission and holds some promise for long-term
competitiveness improvements for rail and marine shipping.
Other actions that have been proposed but received little study include local zoning
policies or “land banks” to preserve land around rail sidings for the exclusive use of railusing
businesses; and working with Class I railroads to provide trackage rights for shortline
railroad operators to expand the reach of their service and reduce the number of
separate movements involved in a particular shipment.
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