Exploring the Opportunities and Barriers to Intermodal Rail Freight

015292922014Final ReportPDFTech ReportProject No. 078PY04DTRT07-G-0005Freight transportationIntermodal transportationCarriersRailroad transportationTruckingLogisticsResearch HubFreight TransportationMotor CarriersPlanning and ForecastingRailroadsI72: Traffic and Transport PlanningUnited StatesNEXTRANS Center (U.S.)Guo, YuntaoPeeta, SrinivasZheng, HongCox, BruceNEXTRANS Center (U.S.)United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionDue to the effects of congestion and rising fuel costs, the need for green transportation and energy security, and the increasing revenue gaps to finance highway infrastructure construction and renewal, there is a critical need to explore the opportunities and barriers to rail-truck multimodal transportation paradigms involving all types of rail and truck assets in both modes. For truck freight carriers, the potential for the growing market also entails challenges such as increased highway congestion and energy consumption, and reduced operational safety, which can affect the reliability and competitiveness of truck freight carriers. In addition, truck driver shortage, high truck driver turnover rate, rising fuel cost, competition with rail freight carriers and third party logistics providers, and freight shippers\u2019 increasing focus on choosing eco-friendly carriers also limit the ability of truck freight carriers to seamlessly capture the steadily growing freight transportation market. For freight shippers, there is urgency for freight shippers to improve the reliability of their logistic system and reduce the supply chain costs. This project aims to explore freight shipper and truck freight carrier perspective in the United State (U.S.) on the factors that foster or impede their usage of rail-truck multimodal freight carriers