US Boxcar Shortage

[RickKfoury]

Interesting article about the vanishing Boxcar:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/shorta ... 2015-06-21

[Ghettofab75]

Seems like anything that could fit in a boxcar could also fit in a container, and be shipped via many different ways.

Kevin

[GSkid]

Says the industry wants to go to 60ft boxcars as standard in the future. I looked at BNSF's website and the 60ft boxcars carry less lading weight than the 50ft cars. Since there is more weight of a longer frame, the weight reserved for cargo is reduced so you don't go over the axle weight limits on the track. So more room for a product, but a product of less mass.

[buzz456]

A huge percentage of the boxcar loads are paper products and with a specific gravity of only 1.2 or less depending on what it is I don't think you would get anywhere near max weight before the car was full so that's not really an issue.

[CrimsonKing]

Seems like anything that could fit in a boxcar could also fit in a container, and be shipped via many different ways.

Yes and no. Many of the companies that are using boxcars to ship their goods have their loading docks set up for boxcars. Using containers would mean spending money to build new loading docks and leasing/purchasing additional equipment to transfer the containers to and from the stack cars.

With boxcars all the company has to do is lock the car down, open the door and load the car.

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Creating a standard size for boxcars is something that probably should have been done a long time ago.

[ex-railwayman]

I have approx. 200 boxcars on my hard drive, do ya want me to send some across the pond, they're mainly 40ft/50ft and 60footers.....

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[Ghettofab75]

Yes and no. Many of the companies that are using boxcars to ship their goods have their loading docks set up for boxcars. Using containers would mean spending money to build new loading docks and leasing/purchasing additional equipment to transfer the containers to and from the stack cars.

With boxcars all the company has to do is lock the car down, open the door and load the car.

True, but with that logic, steam would still be king! Its not and times change. Those industries that use boxcars may wind up having to make a decision to buy new boxcars to insure they can ship their product, or invest in new technology, or pay higher shipping rates.

The nice thing about a container is its standardization, it can travel by many different means of transportation, which should help when it comes down to time vs. cost to transport.

Kevo