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Should shortline railroads upgrade their systems to handle heavy axle load cars?

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  • Babcock, Michael W.
  • Sanderson, James

Abstract

Motivated by lower costs per ton-mile, US Class I railroads have been replacing 263,000-pound gross vehicle weight (GVW) covered hopper cars with 286,000-pound GVW cars. In many cases, shortline railroads would have to upgrade their tracks and bridges to handle the heavier cars. This paper used rate of return on investment analysis for a sample of US shortlines to determine if shortline owners will likely upgrade their infrastructure or abandon the railroad. Analysis revealed that the total cost to upgrade 1583Â miles of mainline track and 1352 bridges of five shortline railroads in one US Midwest state was estimated to be $308.7Â million. None of the shortlines in the analysis can earn an adequate rate of return on upgrading track and bridge investment. If the shortline railroads in the study are abandoned, the annual road damage costs will increase by over $58 million.

Suggested Citation

  • Babcock, Michael W. & Sanderson, James, 2006. "Should shortline railroads upgrade their systems to handle heavy axle load cars?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 149-166, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:42:y:2006:i:3:p:149-166
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    Cited by:

    1. Ozbay, Kaan & Bartin, Bekir & Allen, W. Bruce & Iyer, Shrisan & Robins, Martin & Weiner, Marc & Nassif, Hani, 2019. "Review and assessment of the New Jersey freight assistance program," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Chad R. Miller & Bethany Stich, 2014. "Realizing the economic development benefits of short-line railroads: the case of Mississippi," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Corsi, Thomas M. & Casavant, Ken & Graciano, Tim A., 2012. "A Preliminary Investigation of Private Railcars in North America," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 51(1).
    4. Moreno-Quintero, Eric & Fowkes, Tony & Watling, David, 2013. "Modelling planner–carrier interactions in road freight transport: Optimisation of road maintenance costs via overloading control," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 68-83.

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