Not just highways that suffer from congestion ...

[cpzilliacus]

... railroads can be (and sometimes are) badly congested, according to this NYT article: Freight Train Late? Blame Chicago

[NE2]

...duh...

[kphoger]

I like the title.  As if freight trains operate on a timetable the way Amtrak does...

[NE2]

I like the title.  As if freight trains operate on a timetable the way Amtrak does...

Sometimes they do, most notably on CN's "scheduled railway". High-priority shipments such as UPS intermodal also depend on getting through terminals quickly.

[cpzilliacus]

I like the title.  As if freight trains operate on a timetable the way Amtrak does...

Sometimes they do, most notably on CN's "scheduled railway". High-priority shipments such as UPS intermodal also depend on getting through terminals quickly.

I believe that this train runs on a schedule, given that it is hauling a perishable, refrigerated product.

[kphoger]

OK, understood.  And, I'm sure, the hotter the hotshot, the more it'll be expected to arrive around a certain time.  But, by and large, you know what I mean.  Rail freight is usually considered 'on time' if it arrives on the right day–unlike Amtrak, which is considered 'on time' if it arrives within....oh, say, four hours. 

[Brandon]

... railroads can be (and sometimes are) badly congested, according to this NYT article: Freight Train Late? Blame Chicago

That's what CREATE is supposed to try to fix.

[Alps]

Having done my thesis on freight - yes, there are regularly scheduled shipments and trains, and yes, running on time is very important for freight, because each line needs to schedule all of the trains that run on it so that they don't interfere. When you have single tracks with occasional bypasses and spurs, you need to be very mindful of which trains are going which directions at what speeds, at what times, where. So when one train is suddenly 6 hours late leaving the yard, or even better, 30 hours late the next day, this is what keeps a good number of rail employees employed (and miserable).

[mgk920]

I like the title.  As if freight trains operate on a timetable the way Amtrak does...

Sometimes they do, most notably on CN's "scheduled railway". High-priority shipments such as UPS intermodal also depend on getting through terminals quickly.

I believe that this train runs on a schedule, given that it is hauling a perishable, refrigerated product.

But the Tropicana juice trains do not pass though Chicagoland.

What effect might converting, in some way, the former EJ&E (now part of CN) to become the railroad equivalent of an 'even' three-digit interstate highway beltline have on rail freight transit times in Chicagoland?

Mike

[Dr Frankenstein]

Freight trains (at least up here) do have a schedule and regular train numbers just like passenger trains, except, as noted earlier in the thread, it's not nearly as tightly followed (after all, there are no passengers waiting impatiently on station platforms). But once it is late, there's a chance that it'll be stuck in a siding along the way (on single tracks) to let an opposite train pass, which might have been on time or late as well. By the time it arrives, it may be very late. Also, some freight trains share tracks with passenger trains and vice-versa (especially true in Canada, where VIA and AMT, our equivalents for Amtrak and, say, NJT, own almost none of the trackage they use), in which case the schedule constraint is much more important, especially in busy corridors like the CP and CN between Montreal and Toronto, the Victoria Bridge, and CN's Saint Hyacinthe and Drummondville subdivisions.

But if a very busy subdivision and its surroundings still run on OCS (radio and forms ensuring the track is clear) and has mostly manual switches, then part of the problem's solution is obvious: make the move to CTC and motorized switches. Although I don't think it's the case in most of Chicago's rail system.

[D-Dey65]

I always knew this.