In a statement early Friday morning, Norfolk Southern says it will restructure its Triple Crown Service subsidiary by laying off as many as 200 of its 240-person workforce and paring back the routes RoadRailer trailers travel on to just a single lane. That is expected to be a Detroit to Kansas City-area routing that hauls mostly auto parts.
“This change is a natural evolution in the business,” says Alan H. Straw, NS executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “We want to retain the best of [Triple Crown] in specific markets with efficient door-to-door logistics and award-winning customer service.”
NS’ statement says Triple Crown workers who lose their jobs will be eligible for severance payments, job placement assistance, and the ability to apply for positions with the railroad.
Triple Crown is the remaining major carrier to use RoadRailer-branded trailers which are reinforced tractor-trailer boxes that can ride of top of a single railroad truck without a separate frame or supporting freight car. They’ve been in use in some form since the 1960s but failed to take market share away from intermodal containers that ride on flat railroad flatcars or semi-truck trailer chassis.
UPDATED: Sept. 18, 2015, 2:09 p.m.: clarified word usage and sentence structure.
Does anyone know if this will effect Lehigh Valley Rail Mgt. in Bethlehem,PA. The majority of their traffic is Roadrailers ind shuffling stack trains for NS out of Allentown,PA. L.V.R.M took over the former PB&NE when the Bethlehem Steel closed. Fired all of it's employees and replaced them with Non-Union, Low wage workers. Karma will come back to bite you eventually!!!
I too was disappointed in the announcement. I think capacity problems has been a problem for what can be a longer (150 trailers) and could be a faster train. The ones through Kentucky seemed to operate in the same manner as the double stack trains.
Bob Withorn,
Thank You for your input to answer my question about RoadRailer ! I agree that they probably wouldn't be useful on open general haul routes, but like you state, they can work quite well in certain specialty services (USPS ?) might be an example.
Rob't Klippel,
They are still listed in their catalog as something Wabash National has available if you should decide to place an order. Typical of most all manufacturers, available for production, waiting for an order.
These trailers payload is a few thousand pounds less than standard highway trailers, putting them at a disadvantage on the open general haul routes. They work quite well on captive shipper/receiver service such as automotive where they cube out before they hit the weight limit. If you ship heavy stuff you will lose 8 – 12 percent of your shipping capacity.
Given the current site in Fort Wayne, I wonder if the long term plan might be to eventually transition that site to an intermodal site. I also wondered what the future would hold for these aging trailers given the recent market share containers have and continue to grow into. I think as rail-fans, we find it easy to justify their existence but we don't have big picture information available to have an informed position on the matter. They will be missed regardless.
Sounds like the long term "Evolution in the business" is to eventually phase out roadrailer all together. Containerized and double stack seem to be winning the day. Pretty much the same flexibility as roadrailer for land transport, but also double-stackable and transferable to ships.
Karl, Then if Wabash National is still building them, what railroad or company is buying them ?
If anyone knows, please let us know, would ya ?
Not really surprising. I heard 2 or more years ago from a friend that works for NS in the Ft. Wayne area that Triple Crown had stopped buying new trailers.
I'm grateful my son and I saw and documented a Triple Crown train in Texas, North of Fort Worth a couple of years ago. I guess that will be a thing of the past now. And please have grace for other human beings. You have never made a grammatical mistake in your entire life? I doubt it. Glass houses man, Glass houses.
Mr. MCFARLANE, Thank You for the information on RoadRailer and Wabash National. It's good to know that they're still being made and that apparently there is a continuing demand for them.
Mr. Hays, I don't see why RoadRailers couldn't be cost efficient anywhere, under the right circumstances at least. Seems like using them in TOFC service, would be an unintended role for them, however
I believe they could provide a useful and cost effective role for the USPS also, under the right conditions and circumstances. I know that UP and CSX operate RailEx perishable produce unit trains from the west to east coast and to Florida with only 20 – 30 or so cars, so it might be feasible. CSX also runs daily Tropicana Juice unit trains from Florida to the northeast with only 25 -30 cars.
If they had been able to "pair" the service with regular trains in some corridors, they probably wouldn't have to pare the operation. But this has been a prediction for years.
Sad.
Roadrailer was superior to the TOFC because it eliminated the weight of the flat-car. Double stacks eliminate the weight of the trailer rigging.
I'm disappointed. Road Railer was a progressive technology that could have taken market share from OTR trucks. With the coal traffic going away, they needed some new transprtation products to generate revenue with.
Don't need to throw down on the Post Office. They do not ship enough trailers to or from any single destination to make Roadrailer worthwhile. Unless of course you are going to attach them to regular trains. Regular intermodal containers is what the PO needs. Note that the lane that NS is retaining is one that ships 50+ Roadrailers each trip.
I doubt if Roadrailers are cost efficient in double-stack clearance territory. The trailers can still be used in TOFC service.
@Ian Narita @Robert Klippel, just check the Wabash National website, they still manufacture and sell the RoadRailer(as well as holding most of the patents). What the RoadRailer would be ideal for, if the RR's were really interested in growing market share in Intermodal is in shorter haul markets. There's also one semi-private Federal business that could save a huge bundle on costs by switching to RoadRailers from OTR…the USPS. Last year an internal audit by the GAO suggested that the Postal Service take a look at using Intermodal service to cut costs…I've been saying since Triple Crown started that the Postal Service should look into switching the majority of their medium and long-haul OTR business into using RoadRailers, but once again, there is no forward thinking at the Post Office.
Mr Klippel, last I heard Wabash National(the truck trailer manufacturer) held many of the parents for the trailers. Truck trailers have a lifespan of 10 years, short by railroad standards. Most of the current trailers were built as 53ft trailers since the late 1990's.
Brian. I just don't understand your point about editing the last sentence. what's wrong with it ?
Does anyone know if any manufacturer still makes the RoadRailer vans (cars) anymore or up-dates and rebuilds them ?
Let J.B. Hunt embrace Roadrailers and you will see then nationwide. Another failure by an industry that just can't seem to go the distance.
I wonder if many of the specialized trailers are aging and would need to be replaced if the operation is to continue. That requires a fresh capital investment. The advantages over TOFC when RoadRailer started may not be as significant now that containers and double stacking has become widespread.
I also was disappointed by the weak proofreading.
Pleas edit that last sentence… "the 1960s but fell out of failed to take market share…"