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ULTIMATE RAILROADING, PART 2 Approach How Two Railroads and a Shipper Put Perishables Traffic Back on the Menu by Roy Blanchard

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ULTIMATE RAILROADING, PART 2 Approach How Two Railroads and a Shipper Put Perishables Traffic Back on the Menu by Roy Blanchard A fresh ULTIMATE RAILROADING, PART 2 approach How two railroads and a shipper put perishables traffic back on the menu by Roy Blanchard ine wine is finicky. It doesn’t like to be jostled, stored in hot places, or exposed to bright light. That’s one reason Washington state winemaker Chateau Ste. Michelle sends a million cases a year to East Coast markets in boxcars via the Produce Railex- press with Union Pacific, CSX, and a shipper called Railex. That’s right: boxcars. But not just any boxcars in any freight train. These are new 64-foot mechanical refrigerator cars weigh- fing in at more than 90,000 pounds each and running in solid, non-stop unit trains at passenger-train speeds. With nearly 7,000 cubic feet of interior space and with the capacity to haul 200,000 pounds, each of these cars can carry the load of three or four trucks, depending on whether it’s wine, salad ingredients, melons, or veggies. Temperatures are monitored and set by satellite from the mechanical desk at UP’s Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha, Neb. The iceman cometh not. These food and drink unit trains are guaranteed to make the one- way trip in five days, matching or beating single-driver truck transit times for the 3,000-mile trips from the Railex hubs in California and Washington to its distribution center in Rotterdam, N.Y. Although the year-round service was initially designed for 55-car trains, advances in A.C. traction and distributed power have removed train length limits. Railex can thus scale train sizes to meet customer requirements. Railex started with one train a week from Wallula, Wash., in Octo- ber 2006, then opened a similar California warehouse in Delano (pro- nounced Del-A-no), 30 miles north of Bakersfield a year later with a weekly train. Delano added a second train in June 2009, and in Sep- tember 2009, Railex put on a second Wallula train, bringing the total number of weekly trains to four. Trains are loaded in a day and un- loaded in a day, making two round trips a month a reality and playing a major part in making rail transportation competitive and attractive once again to perishables producers and distributors. This is big business, too. When railroads dominated the west-to-east fresh perishables business, as many as 800 cars a day moved out of California. With traffic limited to five months, car supply was a chal- lenge, which UP and Southern Pacific met by creating the Pacific Fruit Express with its yellow wooden iceboxes on Eastbound Railex train ZDLSK3-05, with 67 loads and 8,048 tons, rolls near Kennard, Neb., on Aug. 8, 2009. Tom Haley © 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com WASHINGTON Wallula N E W Syracuse, N.Y., 2:11 a.m., Aug. 24 Y O R K O R E G O N Rotterdam Collinwood, Ohio, Rochester I D A H O Route of the Produce Railexpress arrive, 3:33 p.m.; Syracuse depart, 4:20 p.m., Buffalo Aug. 23 Rotterdam, N.Y., Pocatello arrive, 5:42 a.m., Portola, Calif., Buffalo, N.Y., Aug. 24 Rochelle. Ill., Deshler, Ohio, 7:35 a.m., Aug. 20 Chicago, depart arrive 10:30 p.m., W Y O M I N G 9:57 p.m., Aug. 22 10:23 a.m., Aug. 23 Council Bluffs, Iowa, 5:47 a.m., Aug. 23 depart, 10:40 p.m., Cheyenne, Wyo., NEBRASKA 11:02 a.m., Aug. 22 I O W A Aug. 23 PA. Ogden Green River 7:06 p.m., Aug. 21 Chicago Cleveland Grand Island, Neb., PENN. Roseville Deeth, Nev., 7:26 a.m., Aug. 22 Willard, Ohio, N E V A D A 6:30 p.m., Aug. 20 Not to scale arrive, 12:37 p.m.; Sacramento © 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co., Cheyenne Omaha TRAINS: Rick Johnson Arrive CSX’s Barr Yard, Garrett, Ind., depart, 12:40 p.m., Stockton North Platte 4:43 a.m., Aug 23 6:41 a.m., Aug. 23 Aug. 23 Potatoes ready to ship. Scott Lothes Stockton, Calif., 11:08 p.m., Aug. 19 ILL. I N D . O H I O truckloads per railcar, it’s still $4,000 cheap- Produce Railexpress franchise and beer to fresh and frozen concentrated damage, and was undependable. A ship- reaching north to Montreal and south to Fresno er to use the rails than the highway. Note Express Lane shipments have few ori- orange juice, and even temperature-sensi- ment could take two to four weeks. Wine New York City, and I-95 for beyond, I-90 that these are public rates; contract rates are gins: Washington and California, mainly, tive pharmaceuticals, have moved in this shaken about in transit and at temperatures connecting to Buffalo and Boston, and I-88, Delano Delano, Calif., depart 7 p.m., Aug. 19 more favorable, but they are private. and few destinations serving the Midwest, fashion. As for what’s used to carry the above a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit does reaching southwest to Binghamton and its C A L I F O R N I A Truckloads originating in the West can Northeast, and Southeast. That it’s been suc- goods, you name it: drums, pails, totes, bins, not make for a happy wine drinker. vital I-81 connection for points south in go from grower to grocer, of course, elimi- cessful is an understatement: Express Lane sacks, cartons, and foam containers. If a Now it’s a different story. Because the Maryland and Virginia. wheels. Super highways and faster trucks nating the drays on both ends. The down- handled some 35,000 carloads, 105,000 customer requires a particular packaging bottles ride in a unit train that does not get Railex contracts with UP and CSX to doomed the business, however. What had side is the grocer’s needs can change during truckloads worth, in its first year. for the move, Railex has the flexibility to classified along the way, there is no need for provide the trains and crews. UP delivers been 800 freight cars a day became 2,400 the five days of transit time. Better to ship to Andy Pollack, a leading East Coast per- make it work in the boxcar environment, ar- extra and expensive packing materials. Tem- blocks of empty ARMN mechanical refrig- trucks a day as Eastern demand for Western a distribution center on the receiving end, ishables distributor, was one of the first Ex- riving damage-free. perature control is no longer an issue, at erator cars to the Railex warehouses in Del- produce grew. Ten years ago, shippers no- permitting consolidation of commodities press Lane customers, buying Washington Moving wine is an example of how Rai- least until it hits your favorite wine mer- ano and Wallula. (UP’s ARMN reporting ticed the railroads again. Diesel-powered into lots grocers can use. potatoes and onions out of his Long Island lex won back business once lost to the high- chant. Thus, Fraser says, Railex this year will mark comes from American Refrigerator refrigeration provided consistent tempera- Also, if you grow only onions and you office. Five years later, he went back to UP ways. Anybody who’s spent time in Wash- carry about 12 million bottles. Transit, a Missouri Pacific/Wabash reefer tures, and satellites provided remote control. ship direct, you have to wait to fill a truck- and CSX saying he’d like a whole train. Rai- ington’s Yakima Valley is aware of the great Railex wanted each hub to be centrally venture.) At this point, Railex’s contract Reefers could be blocked for distant points, load and you pay the entire freight bill. Con- lex trainload service is the result. vintages produced there. Note that the Rai- located. Delano gathers from growers and switching services provider, Paul Didelius’ eliminating yards and speeding shipments. solidating loads at origin means you can ship The Produce Railexpress process mini- lex service zone covers every vineyard, bot- distributors as far south as Riverside and Frontier Rail, takes over. Cost played a big role, too. Shippers pay partial truckloads that will have multiple des- mizes handling, maximizes inventory con- tling plant, and wine warehouse in Wash- Los Angeles and north to Stockton and the “Hours are critical on these trains,” Dide- from $4,500 to $6,000 per truck to ship per- tinations, sharing the freight cost with other trol for restocking, sharpens the distribution ington, Oregon, and California. Napa Valley. Wallula sources from all of lius says, so they waste no ishables to the Northeast from Washington growers. And if you’re going to deal with dis- from farm to market, and maintains an un- Joe Fraser, Chateau Ste. Michelle’s vice Washington state, including Seattle, the rich time “pre-tripping”: set- or California. Prices vary based on the day tribution centers on both ends, why not use broken “cold chain” from origin to shopping president of operations and supply chain, Yakima Valley, and south to Klamath Falls, ting temperatures and of the week, truck availability, and the type rail for better service at two-thirds the cost? cart. With this kind of predictable, dedicat- says Railex makes sense from temperature Ore., and Twin Falls, Idaho. filling fuel tanks, or of cargo. A refrigerated boxcar carries three UP and CSX first attempted to capitalize ed, premium service, in just three years Rai- control to careful handling. Such precise Rotterdam won because it is located, as spotting cars for load- to four times more product and fetches just on this spread in 2001 with the Express Lane lex has already handled more than 300 mil- process control from vine to vendor helped Senior Vice President Paul Esposito says, “at ing, and reassembling under $11,000 a load, according to Septem- perishables service, and though other carri- lion pallets of a veritable alphabet soup of position Chateau Michelle as the fastest- the happy confluence of mainline rail trans- the loaded cars into an ber 2009 UP public tariffs, or a third less ers are seeing growth in the market, UP re- fresh perishables, from apples and arti- growing, Top-10 winery in the U.S.
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