Piggyback on the way out?

Yes.  It's true.

See 'em while you still can.

The decline will be slow, but, at some point, railroads will price it out of existence, citing fuel cost and wind turbulence from piggyback vs containers.  They prefer to handle containers and that pretty much determines how this will go.

Take this news with a grain of salt. I recollect TRAINS having something about 4-5 years ago predicting the disappearance of piggyback on NS. Piggyback still seems to be an important service offering in NS’ intermodal business based on the number of trailers I see on NS intermodal trains, especially trailers belonging to UPS, FedEx and LTL carriers such as Yellow and R&L.

Although it is counterintuitive to most C1 senior management; if a significant number of your customers wish to continue using piggyback, then perhaps the service should be retained.

Curt

FWIW, on the Leigh Line through Bloomsbury, NJ, I no longer see pure TOFC trains but TOFC mixed in with double stacks.

Heck, you don’t even see box cars that much any more, at least in my area.   Articulated double stacks seem to be the preferred freight option.  

Any move to put even one of those d@mn things back on the road is a bad move.  There are far too many of them there now.

Wanna reduce "carbon footprint" and reduce road maintenance and traffic congestion?  Put all of them on trains to the drop-off closest to their destination.  And provide more rail connections to more population centers.

I agree with Curt. I still see piggybacks, mixed in consists with containers.

If UPS, Hunt and FedEx still ship in trailers. It would be foolish to eliminate an income source.

Recently I've been seeing a lot of piggyback flat cars mixed into intermodal trains but with shipping containers placed on them. no more trailers I guess.

@palallin posted:

Any move to put even one of those d@mn things back on the road is a bad move.  There are far too many of them there now.

Wanna reduce "carbon footprint" and reduce road maintenance and traffic congestion?  Put all of them on trains to the drop-off closest to their destination.  And provide more rail connections to more population centers.

Absolutely Agree 100% !!!!!!!!!!   West-East Interstate highways I drive have become painful to drive for All The Semi-trailer trucks - Often driving 60 mph side by side for miles and miles !!!!!! 😮😳🫢😵‍💫🤯🤢🤬🤬🤬  The backup can be Horrendous !!🤯🤯🤯

@PRR Man posted:

I agree with Curt. I still see piggybacks, mixed in consists with containers.

If UPS, Hunt and FedEx still ship in trailers. It would be foolish to eliminate an income source.

Ditto.  We live in Western Springs, IL, which straddles the three main tracks of the former CB&Q "East End". We are down-town at least 3 or 4 times a week, and EVERY SINGLE intermodal train, no matter eastbound or westbound has lots of TOFC mixed in with the container stacks. I really don't think TOFC is going anyplace, especially for UPS & FedEx.