Railroad Freight Transportation
Quinton Harris
American Public University
TLMT352
Railroad Freight Transportation
“The United States railroad system is the biggest and most effective and economical method of transportation in our country”. (O'Reilly2013). “ At the beginingt, it was a uniform system to mediate time differences across the United States, and build reliability into an erratic and rapidly expanding rail network. Railroad time remains a lasting standard “(O'Reilly2013).This paper focuses on railroad freight transportation and the railroad industry in the North America in relation to distribution, logistics and transportation. Areas that will be covered include distribution processes and how the freight gets from the rail to
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Currently, the U.S. freight rail network operates on one hundred and forty thousand miles of rail. “Private rail companies make a big impact on the economy because the railroad network or system employs at least two hundred thousand plus people throughout the country thus making it a large part of our transportation industry and economic balance. (Endsley, 2015). For the most part, freight moves through the U.S. by rail and truck, with rail making up for forty percent of transportation shipments. (Endsley, …show more content…
Many Asian container ships bound for Europe make port in Seattle or Vancouver, Washington, and offload their containers onto trains. These trains then shoot across the continent to an eastern port, where the containers are reloaded on ships to continue their trip to Europe “(insightnl.com, 2008). Intermodal Railroad transportation involves endless service options and possibilities. Navigating through this tangled web of choices can be mind-boggling, (Ruriani2001). Carriers try to retain business and increase revenue by maximizing the line-haul under their control over time service quality and the amount of products being moved by rail has grown with companies like federal express and united parcel service working with the rail road industry and customers also finding it cheaper and more efficient to deliver freight by rail it is clear that the railroad industry will continue to remain a major leader in the transportation and distribution world as long as intermodal freight continues to be useful and effective to our