Exploring the Opportunities and Barriers to Intermodal Rail Freight

Due to the effects of congestion and rising fuel costs, the need for green transportation and energy security, and the increasing revenue gaps to finance highway infrastructure construction and renewal, there is a critical need to explore the opportunities and barriers to rail-truck multimodal transportation paradigms involving all types of rail and truck assets in both modes. For truck freight carriers, the potential for the growing market also entails challenges such as increased highway congestion and energy consumption, and reduced operational safety, which can affect the reliability and competitiveness of truck freight carriers. In addition, truck driver shortage, high truck driver turnover rate, rising fuel cost, competition with rail freight carriers and third party logistics providers, and freight shippers’ increasing focus on choosing eco-friendly carriers also limit the ability of truck freight carriers to seamlessly capture the steadily growing freight transportation market. For freight shippers, there is urgency for freight shippers to improve the reliability of their logistic system and reduce the supply chain costs. This project aims to explore freight shipper and truck freight carrier perspective in the United State on the factors that foster or impede their usage of rail-truck multimodal freight carriers.

• Record URL:
  http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/nextrans/assets/pdfs/078PY04-Final%20Report.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  NEXTRANS

  Purdue University
  3000 Kent Avenue
  Lafayette, IN  United States  47906-1075

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Guo, Yuntao
  • Peeta, Srinivas
  • Zheng, Hong
  • Cox, Bruce
• Publication Date: 2014-4-30

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 71p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Carriers; Freight transportation; Intermodal transportation; Railroad transportation; Trucking
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01529292
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Project No. 078PY04
• Contract Numbers: DTRT07-G-0005
• Files: UTC, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 30 2014 9:41AM