Union Pacific: Changes mean freight cars move faster
June 13th, 2020
June 5, 2020 - FreightWaves.com -
The railroad’s deployment of precision scheduled railroading resulted in faster and longer trains and reduced car sorting, according to the company’s recent sustainability report
Converting more hump yards to flat switching has reduced the time a railcar is at a rail yard, Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) said in its 2019 sustainability report released May 28.
Union Pacific (UP) uses hump yards to sort railcars in such a way that blocks of cars are consolidated based on common destinations, the report said. Flat switching results in the same outcome but maintenance costs are much less, according to UP.
“Each time a car touches a [hump] yard, it adds about 24 hours to its journey. The key to an efficient network is ensuring cars stop only when and where they need to. When a hump yard’s inbound traffic is reduced, it becomes more cost-effective for the yard to flat switch,” UP said.
Read more: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/operational-changes-helped-railcars-move-faster-says-union-pacific-report
The railroad’s deployment of precision scheduled railroading resulted in faster and longer trains and reduced car sorting, according to the company’s recent sustainability report
Converting more hump yards to flat switching has reduced the time a railcar is at a rail yard, Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) said in its 2019 sustainability report released May 28.
Union Pacific (UP) uses hump yards to sort railcars in such a way that blocks of cars are consolidated based on common destinations, the report said. Flat switching results in the same outcome but maintenance costs are much less, according to UP.
“Each time a car touches a [hump] yard, it adds about 24 hours to its journey. The key to an efficient network is ensuring cars stop only when and where they need to. When a hump yard’s inbound traffic is reduced, it becomes more cost-effective for the yard to flat switch,” UP said.
Read more: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/operational-changes-helped-railcars-move-faster-says-union-pacific-report