Lots of jobs in trucking, but drivers find it's a tough haul

[cpzilliacus]

Star Tribune (Minneapolis):  Lots of jobs in trucking, but drivers find it's a tough haul

Michael Lee has been living on the road since 1993.

The 63-year-old trucker from Willmar, Minn., goes by "Gypsy Lee," and he's busy. Christmas Day he was hauling a trailer full of lubricant to windswept oil country near Williston, N.D. Then on to Chicago.

"I don't have a home anymore," he said. "I live in the truck."

These days, there's plenty of work for anyone willing to live the life of a long-haul trucker. A trade group that represents the largest carriers says they need up to 25,000 drivers to sign up today.

Longtime drivers are retiring, and shipping demand is growing. Yet it's not easy to find people willing to embrace the solitude and separation from family that comes with driving a semitrailer truck across the country for a living.

[mgk920]

Sounds to me like a big opportunity for the railroad industry, too - if they would be willing to make the changes necessary to make it work (ie, existing railroad companies allowing other operators access to their networks to handle business that they don't want).

Mike

[Brandon]

Sounds to me like a big opportunity for the railroad industry, too - if they would be willing to make the changes necessary to make it work (ie, existing railroad companies allowing other operators access to their networks to handle business that they don't want).

Mike

The rails are near or at capacity as it is, Mike.  In addition, they, the railroads, have created a ton of trucking jobs to/from the intermodal yards.

[Chris]

American truckers are still much better off than those in Europe. European regulation is much tighter, truckers have far less private space (virtually all trucks are cab-over, even if they have two drivers) and tolls and fines are very high, plus the hours of service are *much* stricter, an American trucker can drive almost twice the amount of miles over a two-week period than a European driver. Plus competition in Europe is incredibly fierce due to the large difference in pay between western European countries and southeastern European ones. Some companies have Ukrainian or Bulgarian truckers driving for € 2 or 3 per hour, whereas western European truckers are paid usually at least € 11 - 15 per hour, sometimes more. As a result, nearly all long-haul trucking is done by eastern European trucking companies nowadays.

Owner-operators do exist here, but I think they are much rarer than in the United States, most truckers are working for a boss and are often unionized as well.

[bugo]

I'd sign up to be a truck driver but I'd be nervous driving something so big.  I have enough problems driving a full sized pickup truck on a 4 lane highway.

[hbelkins]

Besides the difficulties in driving a large vehicle, the biggest problem I'd have being a truck driver is having to pretty much stick to the interstates and not being able to take the long way on a whim.

[bugo]

Another thing I would hate about trucking is that many of the trucks are governed at speeds below 70 MPH.  I'd hate to be on a 2 lane road with a 65 MPH speed limit and be governed at 62.  I hate to be "that guy."

[cjk374]

I'd sign up to be a truck driver but I'd be nervous driving something so big.  I have enough problems driving a full sized pickup truck on a 4 lane highway.

Then running a locomotive would probably unnerve you then.  I find it quite exhilarating.

The railroads are already doing a big intermodal business as it is, but it's gonna get bigger over the next several years.  I know they are already regretting some of the abandonments that were done 10, 20, even 30 years or more ago.  Because they went "abandonment-crazy" after the Staggers Act was passed in 1980, months after the Rock Island shut down, the US rail system is at-capacity & is being added to little by little.  The UP is double-tracking its Sunset Route, & BNSF recently completed its double tracking of their Transcon route from LA to Chicago.  Speaking of Chicago,    the city's CREATE projects are in full swing as they try to make trains more fluid going through the city.

[US71]

I'd sign up to be a truck driver but I'd be nervous driving something so big.  I have enough problems driving a full sized pickup truck on a 4 lane highway.

A few of the smaller companies have small trucks that are glorified "daytrip" vehicles.

[mgk920]

Sounds to me like a big opportunity for the railroad industry, too - if they would be willing to make the changes necessary to make it work (ie, existing railroad companies allowing other operators access to their networks to handle business that they don't want).

Mike

The rails are near or at capacity as it is, Mike.  In addition, they, the railroads, have created a ton of trucking jobs to/from the intermodal yards.

Wisconsin Central ran a hugely popular intermodal service between terminals in Green Bay, WI and Chicago's south side - those trains, used by Schneider, J.B.Hunt and others, were looooong when they passed through downtown Appleton, often requiring running second sections, likely taking 400-500 big-rigs a day off of US/I-41, I-43 and I-94.  Within a couple of weeks after Canadian National took WC over in late 2001, CN dropped the service because even though those trains did operate at a profit, they were not profitable enough for CN's beancounters.

I'm imagining the scenarios if companies like Schneider, J.B.Hunt and others could operate their own dedicated trains by themselves using their own equipment and qualified crews between their terminals, like such rail operators can in much of Europe, while using their truck drivers to do the parts of the hauls between those terminals and their customers.  Yes, such opening up of the infrastructure would require a LOT more track capacity, but are we not now similarly adding to and expanding the I-system and other major roads for greater traffic carrying capacity?  (Under my thoughts, for example, I could see the east-west part of the former EJ&E having to be majorly expanded, perhaps to as many as four main tracks, for the capacity needed to handle train traffic bypassing the congested parts of Chicagoland, sort of like a rail version of an 'even' 3di.)

Also, I agree on the over-eagerness of many abandonments during the latter 20th century and I am seriously wondering when we'll be seeing a major push to reclaim major abandoned routes to be restored to rail service.

I'd sign up to be a truck driver but I'd be nervous driving something so big.  I have enough problems driving a full sized pickup truck on a 4 lane highway.

Heck, I'd be worried that my first real day on the job (after being cut loose by the instructor) would include destroying the shipper's dock and several other trailers as I try to back the thing up to it.



Mike

[cpzilliacus]

Wisconsin Central ran a hugely popular intermodal service between terminals in Green Bay, WI and Chicago's south side - those trains, used by Schneider, J.B.Hunt and others, were looooong when they passed through downtown Appleton, often requiring running second sections, likely taking 400-500 big-rigs a day off of US/I-41, I-43 and I-94.  Within a couple of weeks after Canadian National took WC over in late 2001, CN dropped the service because even though those trains did operate at a profit, they were not profitable enough for CN's beancounters.

NS at  one time tried to run a "premium" intermodal train for UPS and Fed Ex (and maybe some of the others) from Atlanta, Georgia to Croxton Yard, Jersey City, N.J. on an overnight basis. 

Problem was that the train could not make it from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. (where the train had to run on Amtrak's N.E. Corridor most of the rest of the way to Jersey City) in time to meet Amtrak's deadline (there is generally no freight traffic allowed on the NEC between 6 A.M. and 11 P.M. - even though NS has trackage rights on the NEC, they are usually only allowed on during that overnight window). 

NS management had worked out a deal with Amtrak's bosses to allow this one crack freight train to violate that window every morning, and was paying Amtrak a substantial amount of money beyond Amtrak's usual tariff for freight trains on its rails).  This train ran for several months on a "test" basis (and did not disrupt Amtrak passenger service), but then the higher-ups at Amtrak decided they did not want the NS freight on their rails during the day (in spite of the extra dollars that NS was sending to Amtrak) so the "experimental" train was cancelled, and it takes that freight an extra day to get from Georgia to North Jersey by train, so a fair amount of it runs on rubber tires on I-85 and I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike instead.

[cjk374]

Also, I agree on the over-eagerness of many abandonments during the latter 20th century and I am seriously wondering when we'll be seeing a major push to reclaim major abandoned routes to be restored to rail service.
[/quote]

I'm afraid in most cases, too much time has passed to reclaim most of the abandoned ROWs.  In Ruston, LA over the old Rock Island ROW many businesses have been built & they replaced the overpasses on I-20 with dirt fill.   

[Brandon]

Also, I agree on the over-eagerness of many abandonments during the latter 20th century and I am seriously wondering when we'll be seeing a major push to reclaim major abandoned routes to be restored to rail service.

I'm afraid in most cases, too much time has passed to reclaim most of the abandoned ROWs.  In Ruston, LA over the old Rock Island ROW many businesses have been built & they replaced the overpasses on I-20 with dirt fill.   
[/quote]

Around here, Chicagoland, many of the old ROWs are preserved as trails.  Watch now as bicyclists get pissy about their favorite trail being turned back into rails.

[NE2]

Around here, Chicagoland, many of the old ROWs are preserved as trails.  Watch now as motorists get pissy about more bikes using the road due to the nearby trail being removed.

Fixed for you.

[bugo]

I wouldn't mind driving a train because it goes where you point it.  With a big truck, you have a small margin of error before you go off the road, into another lane, or into a barrier.  It's especially bad when the lanes are narrowed due to construction.

[Brandon]

I wouldn't mind driving a train because it goes where you point it.  With a big truck, you have a small margin of error before you go off the road, into another lane, or into a barrier.  It's especially bad when the lanes are narrowed due to construction.

Train engineers have it pretty good with the railroad pension, but the job can take a toll on those whose trains hit something/someone.  A fair number of train engineers have psychological problems after hitting and killing a person with the locomotive.

[cjk374]

I wouldn't mind driving a train because it goes where you point it.  With a big truck, you have a small margin of error before you go off the road, into another lane, or into a barrier.  It's especially bad when the lanes are narrowed due to construction.

Train engineers have it pretty good with the railroad pension, but the job can take a toll on those whose trains hit something/someone.  A fair number of train engineers have psychological problems after hitting and killing a person with the locomotive.

I pray I never have to deal with that during my next 24 years I have left before I get to enjoy that retirement pension.  The other scary feeling that will suck is to come up on a broken rail or something afoul of the track ahead & know I won't be able to stop before a major problem occurs.

[Mdcastle]

Is it possible to make decent money as a truck driver without working insane hours or fudging the log book?

[realjd]

Around here, Chicagoland, many of the old ROWs are preserved as trails.  Watch now as bicyclists get pissy about their favorite trail being turned back into rails.

I'll bet you would be quite pissy also if the government ripped out a vital part of your commuting infrastructure and replaced it with freight rails. The railroads lost rights to the tracks when they surrendered the ROW. If they need additional capacity, there are plenty of other options available. Why not use the medians on interstate highways?

[NE2]

The railroads lost rights to the tracks when they surrendered the ROW.

Actually the standard rails-to-trails setup involves a lease to the trail organization with the railroad reserving the right to restore rail service. This gets around reversionary clauses in the original deeds. http://www.railstotrails.org/ourwork/advocacy/policyandfunding/railbanking.html

But usually there's enough right-of-way that a rails-with-trails setup can be done if rails remain. http://www.railstotrails.org/ourwork/trailbuilding/toolbox/informationsummaries/rails-with-trails.html

[Brandon]

Around here, Chicagoland, many of the old ROWs are preserved as trails.  Watch now as bicyclists get pissy about their favorite trail being turned back into rails.

I'll bet you would be quite pissy also if the government ripped out a vital part of your commuting infrastructure and replaced it with freight rails. The railroads lost rights to the tracks when they surrendered the ROW. If they need additional capacity, there are plenty of other options available. Why not use the medians on interstate highways?

Commute route?  The vast majority of them are recreational in nature, and as SPUI said above, it's a lease and the railroad still owns the ROW.

[Brian556]

Here in North Texas, the former MKT freight line between Lake Dallas and Denton that had been abandoned, then turned into a trail, was re-claimed as a railroad by DCTA for commuter rail. They restored the tracks to the middle of the ROW, and built a replacement trail beside the tracks. It worked out great.

I would love to see more freight hauled by train instead of truck. There are way too many trucks on the interstates, and hauling freight by train is way more enviormnetally friendly because less fuel is consumed.

As far as driving trucks goes, it ain't easy. The reason being the transmissions. The hardest thing I've ever driven is a 13 speed split shift dump truck. Even after several months, i could not master it. All my coworkers, even those with obviosuly low IQ's could do it way better than me. I think this is a limitation that I have that is due to Asperger's.

[cjk374]

If they need additional capacity, there are plenty of other options available. Why not use the medians on interstate highways?

I think there is a similar set up in Los Angeles in the median of....I think I-10?

In reference to currently existing freeways, wouldn't you have to rebuild all of the overpasses to eliminate the bridge piers that are in the medians?  Then another overpass would need to be built to get the railroad out of the median.

I really like this idea....no grade crossings, plenty of space for multiple main tracks (in many places), & a fairly direct path from point A to point B.  But as with all great ideas, it would be costly.

[mgk920]

Also, keep in mind that interstate and similar roads are much more forgiving of grades and curvature than are railroads.  Interstate standards allow up to 6 percent grades (the west approach to Vail Pass on I-70 is 7%) while the most rugged mountain railroad grades seldom exceed 2.2%.  The southwest railroad approach to Cajon Pass is 3% on one of the tracks.

Often, such as in Germany, a new true high-speed railroad will follow a major highway, but will frequently deviate from it in order to keep its grades and curvature within standards.

Mike

[NE2]

I think there is a similar set up in Los Angeles in the median of....I think I-10?

The railroad came first there. Often an Interstate will have grades too steep for a freight railroad without major reconstruction.

VA SR 164 (and a bit of I-664) recently had the Commonwealth Railway relocated into its median.
http://www.joc.com/rail-intermodal/commonwealth-railway-start-double-stack-service_20101216.html
http://www.vpa-engineering.net/rail_project/index.htm