A Union Pacific Cold Connect produce train passes through Lombard, Ill. UP is adding to its refrigerator-car fleet.
TRAINS: David Lassen
SUN VALLEY, Idaho — Union Pacific will acquire 1,000 new refrigerator cars with the possibility of expanding the order to 1,600, a UP official told a recent shippers’ conference.
The Produce News reports that Brad Thrasher, UP’s vice president and general manager, agricultural products marketing, made the announcement Aug. 29 at the Idaho Grower Shipper Association convention. At a cost of $250,000 each, the purchase will constitute the largest railcar acquisition in company history, the publication reported.
UP has made produce service a priority since its 2017 purchase of Railex, a refrigerated food and beverage logistics company, offering five-day-a-week expedited produce service from Washington and California to New York.
you can buy all the new cars you want but ,unless you have security they will look like all the other produce cars covered in graffiti their disgusting makes the rail companys look like crap. Also one more thing I live by the Railex Facility in Rotterdam N.Y. now owned by U.P. usually Union Pacifica engines bring in produce from Walla Walla Washington in refer cars 50-100 cars a train several times a week, and a day or so later when their empty they leave and head back to Washington State with U. P. engines . Now I notice the M/T reefers are put on a siding track for a day or so and I believe are sent to the Selkirk yard to lash up with other freights going back west . This to me is a waste of time and money when they went directly back to Walla Walla Washington as a hot shot with the 50-100 cars , I don’t know if this part of the new precision shipping , it needs a little tweeking .
Actually we agree. I think all of this perishable reefer traffic should be integrated into the Z train network when possible to reduce cycle times and avoid classification yards (again to the extent possible).
For our example then, we see there is no Z train service to/from MSP where Sioux City is online. But there is a daily manifest (sometimes twice daily) to North Platte, where a Z train to Oakland originates (with cars that originate on other I, K and Z trains that block swap in NP. Plus there are Z trains at least some days of the week that connect Oakland and Lathrop, offering a connection for dedicated reefer blocks back to Delano. This could work if the Z trains cited have capacity for the reefer blocks in question (for sure the Oakland-Lathrop shuttle does, it’s usually not too long).
All that’d be necessary is to get the empties to Sioux City. I like the 1 man crew shuttle from Mo Valley idea, but maybe in makes more sense to run a little circuitous via existing North Platte manifest service (but no need to classify the reefers if CSX would be so kind as to create a contiguous block of empty Rotterdam reefers at Selkirk for North Platte.
Paul, there’s nothing wrong with disagreement. Nobody is correct every time. As long as it stays civil it makes for an interesting discussion.
I’ll agree that the meat backhauls (Sioux City is a great market to start with.) will increase the cycle times on the cars. But everything is a trade off. The unit of production is the round trip. The UP will need to produce a round trip for each car for each load of west coast fruit and vegetables. Adding the meat backhaul will increase the cost of these round trips by: 1) increasing the car days required and, 2) adding some extra miles.
The question is: will the additional revenue from the westbound meat significantly exceed the extra cost? In my experience it surely will do so. Running an empty, no revenue, car from Chicago to California is a waste of capacity. It’s basically unsold production. The railroad has produced the transportation but not sold it. Not good.
Here’s my notional idea. It will drive the operating officials and union folks nuts, but I’m certain it will work well. I did work for a railroad.
1) The empty reefers are in Chicago. They’ve either come back from CSX as a unit train or need to be classified at Proviso. Take your pick.
2) A regular ole freight train (unit or otherwise) takes ’em west. However many are needed in Sioux City are set out at Missouri Valley Jct. Let’s say it’s 20 cars this day, about equal to 70 trucks. It does not make a difference which 20 empties are used.
3) Now put a single, smaller, locomotive on those 20 cars and run them up to Sioux City with a one person crew. (Gasp! The utter horror!) One person on that short of a run with that few cars will work just fine.
4) At Sioux City just run the train in to the loading facility. There is no need for classification. The classification will be done by loading. If they need the Oakland cars first out, then the cars first out are loaded with Oakland bound meat, etc. Heck fire, you could even put a pallet or two of Sue Bee honey in a car for extra revenue. Beef, pork, eggs and honey can be loaded in the same car.
5) Return the loaded cars (daily) to Missouri Valley Jct. Use the one person crew. (My God, he said it again!) Just set ’em on a track. They’re blocked for destination. Pick the cars up with the best suited Z train(s). (Here is where the operating officials join the union officials in bouncing off the walls. “He wants us to make a pick up with Z trains! It will destroy the schedules!”) No, it won’t. If they can’t make a pick up in 20 minutes they should find another job. There will probably need to be a utility man at Missouri Valley.
6) Now take ’em west fast. Nothing else is required before Granger, WY. (Maybe Green River) If it’s an Oakland train, as an example, they’ll set out the loads for Portland and Seattle. (“There is no end to this man’s lunacy, he wants to do more en route work with a Z train!) Yes, I do want such work. It will take heads up railroading, but it can be done without wrecking the schedule. Pick up the Pacific Northwest loads with a Z headed that way.
7) Go on, fast, to Salt Lake City/Ogden. Here you’re going to need a switch engine. Set out (Again!) the Salt Lake, Las Vegas and Los Angeles loads. Spot the Salt Lake loads and put the Vegas and LA loads on the right Z leaving town.
8) Continue the run to Sparks, NV. Set out the Sparks loads. Why Sparks? Well, that’s where Walmart has its perishable distribution center for Northern California. “Here’s your beef, pork, eggs and maybe some honey”.
9) Roll on to Oakland with the loads for that destination.
10) It shouldn’t take too much time or effort to get those cars back to Delano for eastbound loading. The meat loads to the PNW could be used to eastbound out of Wallula or Bosie.
Is this a railfan’s fantasy? I don’t think so. I’m sure my notional concept needs some adjustments. I did work on developing freight schedules and I’m confident this is a good starting point.
I’ll ballpark the revenue from just Sioux City at $600,000 per week or over $31 million per year. That should cover any additional cost and throw good money to the bottom line. And remember, it’s all about the money.
John Rice I wonder if UP’s Railex acquisition provided any rights to the closed distribution facility in JAX. Because a Delano produce block bound for Atlanta over Memphis CSX on the existing Z train might make sense with that backhaul, especially if supplemented by poultry west to California over the Sunset.
Kenneth Strawbridge why does this feel like disagreement even though we obviously agree on the importance of backhauls? I’m quite familiar with the ColdConnect service and don’t need the explanation.
But on the subject of backhauls and the need to protect the existing service: let’s imagine 100% of the UP meat backhaul originates in Sioux City (not true, most poultry production is in the mid south). And let’s further imagine that 100% of it winds up at (humor me) the Port of Oakland for export (probably not true either, there’s a nontrivial west coast consumption market for Iowa pork anyway). So right there we have two out of route points to serve that would take time out of what’s now a largely empty return move direct from Albany to Delano.
Now ColdConnect (and formerly Railex) alternated between dedicated reefer block trains and moving in manifest or possibly Z train service eastbound, and probably a variety of ways but often manifest service westbound empty via North Platte and Roseville, with classification at either or both points.
Now in order to use the same equipment for loaded backhauls of meat between Sioux City and Oakland with the extra spotting at origin and destination and classification in let’s say Council Bluffs to siphon off ColdConnect empties for Sioux City and again in Roseville to get the Oakland empties to Delano means a challenge to get a steady supply of empties back to protect the ColdConnect service.
So I think we’re both happy to see the reefer fleet expand to (hopefully) be able to take advantage of these backhaul opportunities and not just (again hopefully) to replace the last of the 50’ reefer fleet.
Marc,
Pleased to see your post. Hope all is well with you.
Railex closed the Jacksonville Florida facility that was to provide pineapples for the return trip back west using the CSX service triangle. UP was supposed to bring Delano produce to CSX via the East St Louis gateway and down the Illinois Sub, turn south at Vincennes, re-engine at Hopkinsville and head towards Jax. But due to the prolonged drought in California, this cut produce volumes by a large factor so UP simply combined the Delano cars with the Yakima Valley ones at Green River Wyoming and brought them to CSX via Chicago.
This made the Jacksonville return a money loser as the route was just too long and Railex finally threw in the towel.
Now California is starting a slow recovery on the produce side. Now UP is responding.
I’m aware of a frozen meat export facility coming online at the Port of Oakland (which may be caught up in the counterproductive trade wars going on so take with a grain of salt). It was exploring UPRR service directly into the port from my understanding.
So given that the ColdConnect service to NY from Delano has plenty of westbound empty backhaul capacity, it makes sense that more cars would be required to protect that service in order to divert those empties to the various scattered meat (and sure egg) producers along the UP system to serve the Port of Oakland as well as other west coast consumption points, while still providing sufficient empty reefers to Delano when required.
Paul Bouzide, the meat, poultry and egg production isn’t really scattered. It’s concentrated in a few very large facilities that tend to cluster in a few areas. (There are small slaughter facilities that are scattered, but their production is not that significant.)
ColdConnnect is really an intermodal service with trucks bringing the produce to Delano for transfer to rail. At the eastern terminal the produce is again transferred to trucks for delivery. They’re using the reefer cars as intermodal equipment. There is no reason the UP can’t do the same thing with meat and eggs westbound from Iowa and Nebraska.
Sioux City, IA is a good example. For decades Tyson has had a huge beef plant just across the river in Nebraska. A new pork plant just opened in Sioux City which will dispatch 20,000 hogs per day. Within economical trucking range at large facilities at Storm Lake, IA and Sioux Falls, SD. Our west coast states do not produce anywhere near the meat, poultry and eggs they consume. I see an opportunity for the UP to replicate Delano in the Sioux City area to load those cars westbound.
The ROI is going to be a whole lot better if there is a revenue load in the equipment for more of their miles.
Richard Hunn, what Tyson facilities?
AFAIK, no significant rail movements of poultry, beef, or pork happen in North America. It’s a very large untapped market for rail. If the UP can’t make money hauling beef and pork (with some eggs) from Sioux City to the west coast they might as well give up.
Are they doing that? Please tell us about it. (Tyson isn’t the only game in town on this.)
Who can tell us the days of operation, origins and destinations and running times of these produce trains? Getting back into this market is note noteworthy. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
Am I on the right track thinking that because of the difficulty getting transport truck drivers firms are turning to the railroads to transport their perishables
One of the things done with the older cars was to replace the refrigeration equipment with more modern units used in truck trailers. You will see older cars that have the roof over the mechanical space cut away and filled with either a Carrier or Thermo-King unit.
Trinity Industries will build these 64-ft. reefers. All of the 50-ft. reefers will be gone by 2022.
It isn’t just the ColdConnect traffic, Tyson Foods ships a lot of fresh pork and beef on the UP, daily traffic out
of a number of Tyson facilities.
The ColdConnect (former Railex) origins are Delano, CA and somewhere in the Yakima Valley, WA. The I believe now single destination is a former Railex faculty on CSX near Albany.
Any idea who will manufacture the new cars?
As great to see as this order is, I suspect that it is primarily intended to replace the older (former PFE/UPFE/SPFE and FGMR) cars in the fleet, which would all be over 50 years old within four years. An order like this will probably take about that long to produce. The newer cars are each going to haul about 40-45 percent more than what the old ones could.
Hopefully they’ll run the produce on existing near daily Z trains and not try to go with less frequent unit trains of produce.
This is a huge market with an equally huge potential for rail movement. The railroads were largely driven from this business by inane government economic regulations. The current driver shortage may be a factor, but rail was always naturally competitive in this market. But the produce truckers were never economically regulated. That gave the truckers a very real, if artificial, advantage.
UP now has to spend $250 million up front on new cars to get back to where they should have always been.