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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transportation research. Part E, Logistics and transportation review Logistics and transportation review, 2006-05, Vol.42 (3), p.149-166
Main Authors: Babcock, Michael W., Sanderson, James
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Covered hopper rail cars
Impact analysis
Infrastructure
Railroad transportation
Rate of return on investment analysis
Replacement costs
Return on investment
Shortline railroads
Shortline railroads Covered hopper rail cars Rate of return on investment analysis
Studies
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Summary: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 1583 miles of mainline track and 1352 bridges of five shortline railroads in one US Midwest state was estimated to be $308.7 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.
ISSN:1366-5545
1878-5794
DOI:10.1016/j.tre.2004.11.003