CHAPTER 10 CAR OWNERSHIP AND DISTRIBUTION

Private Car Ownership Railroads encourage utilities to own their own cars - In exchange, get reduced freight rates Reduces railroads’ new car investments and maintenance costs Car markings end in “X”

Car Rental Systems Bilateral Agreements - Use of another railroad’s cars - Terms and rate are private - Rail Inc (subsidy of AAR) keeps track of all “interchanges” and tracks balances Per Diem - Actually per hour - How bilateral agreements are charged

Rates Need to be high enough to have return to owner Low enough to encourage the railroad to keep it long enough to find a return load -Will improve overall car use Used to be regulated by ICC

Service and Distribution Rules Objectives 1.Ensure well-timed movement of empties 2.Reduce empty car mileage Empty Return Finding an Empty Car Tracing

Railbox & Railgon TTX Corp. - Owned by major railroads - Own standardized plain cars for use by railroads - Lower rates Railbox (RBOX) : plain box cars Railgon (GONX) : plain gondolas

Assigned Service Cars Cover specific products between specific shippers & consignees Car ownership is often shared by different RR’s Cars almost always return empty

Universal Machine Language Equipment Register Date file updated daily Shows availability for all cars Maintained by Rail Inc

TRAIN II - Telerail Automated Information Network - Keeps location of every freight car - Covers all railroad interchanges in the US and Canada SAM - Shipper Assist Message - Lets shippers receive data from cars carrying their shipments

Car Route Optimization AAR continuously does studies to improve car use strategies Database the waybills of 1% of all trains - Over 200,00 per year Generate computer programs to evaluate the effect of car service