Eastern Railroad Discussion > Basic Intermodal 101 Q

When train arrives and all the containers in a 3 or 5 well set are for that terminal, is the 3 or 5 well set cut out or are the containers unloaded to trucks right off the train ? TIA,,

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/15 06:44 by calsubd.

is the intermodal ramp you are referring to an intermediate facility or a terminating facility ...

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> is the intermodal ramp you are referring to an
> intermediate facility or a terminating facility
> ...
Could be either, train for example purposes runs Lakeland, Fl. to Jax, so I guess some well cars could be put on new trains to NJ or Chicago,

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

All containers on a car are usually going to the same destination terminal or if mixed to a terminal enroute to their destinations where they would be sorted..
The CSX train out of Winter Haven is made up of cars going to several different terminals.  In JAX or north FL the train would be broken apart and cars placed on trains for NJ, Chicago, CA., or other destinations.  Nothing would be unloaded off the train there except a rare loading problem at Winter Haven.

gmojim

gmojim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All containers on a car are usually going to the
> same destination terminal or if mixed to a
> terminal enroute to their destinations where they
> would be sorted..
> The CSX train out of Winter Haven is made up of
> cars going to several different terminals.  In
> JAX or north FL the train would be broken apart
> and cars placed on trains for NJ, Chicago, CA.,
> or other destinations.  Nothing would be unloaded
> off the train there except a rare loading problem
> at Winter Haven.
>
> gmojim
Thank you !

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Depending on container volume from one destination to another, container trains may be all one block (Chicago, for example) or they may be blocked such that at some terminals along the route, blocks may be dropped or added.  The size of each block is determined largely by the anticipated container/trailer volume to that destination.  Unlike handling of manifest freight where everything to go out is somewhere in the yard before the outbound train (or blocks) gets made up, intermodal is more 'on the fly' where what's here now plus approximations of what will come in the gate in the next 4-8 hours are used to determine block sizes.  There generally aren't any 'reservations' made for intermodal trains, although some shippers give day & train estimates of how many units they will be sending.  Ideally, what comes in the gate goes out on the train, and what comes on the train goes out the gate.  

Of note is trains going to Chicago may or may not be blocked for connecting railroad destinations.  Due to congestion in Chicago, moving a small number of loaded cars (3 or 5 wells per car) from one intermodal terminal to the terminal of another railroad can often take way too long.  As a result, containers and trailers are driven cross-town from the inbound ramp to the outbound ramp of the other railroad. 

Most intermodal ramps have to build and receive trains on multiple tracks.  Depending on the facility, each track may be from 1/4 mile to perhaps 1 mile long.  Once an inbound train has been spotted and unloaded, those cars are 'allocated' to a specific outbound train and blocks determined as necessary.  In general, 6-10 hours elapse from when a train has been unloaded until it is fully re-loaded and triple checked before the blue flags and derails get dropped and it is released for movement.  Containers and trailers coming in the gate during the loading process will frequently be parked for immediate loading on an outbound train, space permitting.  Throw in 'last minute' gate arrivals for UPS and it is sometimes necessary to remove a previously loaded container or trailer to make room for the higher priority UPS load.  Of course, empties or repos are the first to be pulled off for UPS. 

On occassion, outbound trains must be reduced in size due to train length limitations.  This often happens in the winter as brake lines become narrowed with frozen moisture and handling difficulties increase with train length.  If possible, empty or repo containers and the cars they are on will be left behind for a later train.  For trains that have blocks added and subtracted enroute, there is frequently some negotiation between terminals to determine who holds what, etc, based on the priorities of various loads in each block.

Life at an intermodal ramp is a non-stop juggling act to balance the number of inbound containers with available chassis of the right ownership and length (there's pool and private owner chassis), sufficient empty containers to be taken out for loading, and, of course, sufficient space on outbound trains for all the loads arriving at the gate and empties, including paid, private owner empties (repos).  It doesn't always work out 'nicely'.  Sometimes there's too many of one 'ball' and not enough of the other 'balls' to keep everything running smoothly.  That's when inbound containers may have to 'wait' for chassis, or loads wait for space on an outbound train, etc.  Headaches are a common occurrance among intermodal ramp managers.
 
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/15 17:57 by BRAtkinson.

BRAtkinson.  that is great description of intermodal ramp operations

gmojim