FREIGHT CAR UTILIZATION AND RAILROAD RELIABILITY: CASE STUDIES

Freight car utilization and service reliability have become increasingly important issues for the railroading industry. Rapidly rising costs of new equipment and increased interest rates have combined to force the railroads to look towards improved utilization as a means of reducing future car acquisition requirements. The report investigates the relationship between utilization and reliability through the use of a series of case studies undertaken in cooperation with 11 railroads. These studies range from analyzing a new operating strategy to analyzing the effect of a new car cleaning facility. The case study reports provide information on the problem, proposed solutions, the analysis performed, and conclusions reached. The summary draws conclusions from the case studies in the areas of performance evaluation and service design within railroad companies. Further, the summary makes several recommendations as to how railroads might obtain improved utilization and reliability.

• Corporate Authors:

  Association of American Railroads

  Freight Car Utilization Program, 1920 L Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20036

  Federal Railroad Administration

  Office of Policy and Program Development, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Publication Date: 1977-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 398 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Car distribution (Railroads); Car utilization (Railroads); Cleaning; Fleet management; Freight cars; Freight transportation; Level of service; Management; Management information systems; Operations; Planning; Railroad cars; Railroad transportation; Railroads; Reliability; Systems analysis; Utilization
• Uncontrolled Terms: Services
• Old TRIS Terms: Car cleaning; Cargo transportation; Fleet planning; Operating strategies; Operations planning
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Freight Transportation; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Research;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00176035
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: FRA/OPPD-78/10 Final Rpt., AAR-R-283
• Contract Numbers: DOT-FR-65146
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 19 1978 12:00AM