California State Rail Plan 2005-06 to 2015-16

2005-06 – 2015-16 California State Rail Plan
Interestingly, the cost of rail service and effective customer service were of
substantially less interest to shippers than those two issues.
Given the importance of intermodal traffic to railroads in California, the focus of
this effort was on intermodal shippers. One company studied was a California
intermodal marketing company (IMC) 12 , which leases trailers and containers from
both railroads and “stack train operators” and solicits loads for this equipment
from shippers for transport in rail intermodal service to points throughout
North America. The other was a container train operator who owns containers and
pays the railroads to deliver their containers to points throughout North America.
Of particular concern to both of these parties were the following issues:
• Congested intermodal terminals that delay shipments.
• Lack of containers and rolling stock to handle traffic in and out of Southern
California.
• Congestion on main lines and in terminals of eastern railroads that delays
shipments to and from California.
• Information technology problems causing lost rail cars.
• Delays to rail shipments related to increasing shared use of main lines by
commuter and intercity passenger operations.
12 As noted above, an IMC leases containers and trailers from railroads like BNSF and UP, and in turn solicits loads
for these containers from shippers. It then arranges for the pick-up of the trailers and containers from the shippers,
their transport on the railroad, and their deliveries to receivers. For these logistical arrangements, the IMC charges
its fees to shippers.
190