# Presentation: 663531

## Rail Freight In

- Relief of Roadway
- Congestion

- NCHRP 8-42
- Talking Freight
- March, 2007

- Carl Martland

## NCHRP 8-42 STUDY

**Surrounding issues inevitably broader**

**Purpose: road congestion relief**

**Three Objectives:**

**Study Products:**

**Guidebook (Volume I)**
**Final Report (Volume II)**

**Expand Scope of Public Planning Processes**
**Improve Methods to Identify and Assess Solutions**
**Cultivate Public-Private and Public-Public Cooperation**

## RAIL FREIGHT IN RELIEF OF ROADWAY CONGESTION

**Road planners need to know it**

**Rail relief of roads is viable**

**Clear ways to judge and proceed**

**8-42 Study products show how**

**Biggest barriers not market barriers**

**Institutional and capital priorities**

## CONVERGING INTERESTS

**  **
**Alternatives diminishing, multi-modal options desirable**
**Supply capacity any effective way**
**Freight functions as a system**
**Rail is most prominent alternative**
**Multiple public benefits **

**PUBLIC:**

**  **
**Constrained rail ability to finance capital improvements**
**Capital intensive industry more receptive to public investment**
**Aids Cost of Capital and ROI gap (Virtuous Cycle)**

**PRIVATE:**

## NEEDS

**Result: narrow experiential base, limited scope for action**

**Public agencies pay scant attention to rail freight**

**Railway’s situation analogous for public planning**

**Both parties need to forge new partnerships**

**Aided by systematic approaches to analyze and implement rail options**

## EXAMPLES OF RAIL FREIGHT OPTIONS

## FACTORS AFFECTING FEASIBILITY

**Different perspectives on freight**

**Private Sector vs. Public Sector Planning**

**Needs for Better Tools and Methods**

**Public Investment Planning Processes**
**Approach for multi-modal planning**
**Methods for Assessing Issues & Solutions**
**Approach for identifying options**
**Public-Private Cooperation**
**Roles of service providers and shippers**

## PUBLIC-PRIVATE RELATIONSHIPS

**Cooperation First**
**Distribution of Roles**
**Collaborative Dispute Resolution**

**Actions to aid relationship **
**development**

## DRAWING SUPPORT:  PRIVATE PRIORITY

**Driven by growth in import containers**
**Public benefits not in private calculation**

**When capital & capacity both scarce,**
**good traffic gives way to better:**

**Solution: put public**
**capital on the table**

**Changes comparison**
**Improves return**
**Expands capital pool**

## DRAWING SUPPORT: PUBLIC PRIORITY

**REFORMULATION in freight terms ****111111111111**

**CONTAINMENT of worsening congestion****111111**

**BROADER CRITERIA appealing to voters:****11111**

**Economic development**

**Safety (traffic separation)**

## DRAWING SUPPORT: COALITIONS

**Public: Track & terminals**
**Private Operators: Equipment & terminals**
**Both: Train starts affecting crew & power**
**Railroads contribute everywhere, including national fleets & network**

**DRAWING SUPPORT: COALITIONS**

**Multi-Party**
**Investment:**

## APPLICABLE SITUATIONS

**Traffic growth seems to require extensive highway capacity investment.**
**Over-reliance on trucks leads to severe congestion.**
**Rail network structure restricts role of rail. **
**Rail network structure restricts role of highways. **
**Freight users are too small or scattered for efficient use of rail.**
**Regional economic development is threatened by lack of goods movement.**

## DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

**Identify Applicable****Rail Freight Solutions **

**Alternatives ****to be Evaluated**

**Funding and Implementation Plans**

**Perspective of Planners**

**Social and Econ Impacts**

**Pub/Pvt Benefit/Cost;**
**Shipper Acceptance**

**Effectiveness of Rail Freight**

**Perspective of Decision-Makers**

## POLICY MECHANISMS

**Project Finance of Capacity Expansion**
**Public Ownership of Right-of-Way**
**Redevelopment of Rail Facilities**
**Taxation Relief and Incentives**
**Finance Reform – equality by mode**
**Land Grants and land swaps**
**Support of Light Density Lines**

## 3-PHASE ANALYSIS APPROACH

**1. Preliminary Assessment of Feasibility**

**2. Detailed Analysis**

**Q: Do benefits justify the costs?**
**Use traffic diversion and benefit models**

**3. Decision-Making**

**Q: Is this project better than alternatives?**
**Use benefit/cost and multi-criteria analysis**

**Q: Can rail help relieve congestion?**
**Use simple sketch planning tools**

## EVALUATION PROCESS

**EVALUATION PROCESS**

**Traffic Activity Forecast**

**Current & future hwy ****delay patterns**

**Truck & rail freight movements**

**Categorize problem types**

**Costs: **
** ****Current Congestion**
** ****Future without change**
** ****Future with new plan**
** ****Highway & alt. rail plans**

**(5) Amt of divertible freight**

**Output: Max Econ Feasible Spending**

## ANALYTIC TOOLS

| Benefit Category   | Railroads | Trucking
Companies | Shippers | Govt | Public |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   Operating Costs | X | X | X | X |  |
|   Productivity | X | X |  |  |  |
|   Breakage |  |  | X |  |  |
|   Congestion |  |  |  |  | X |
|   Environmental Quality |  |  |  |  | X |
|   Safety & Security | X | X | X | X | X |
|   Tax Revenue |  |  |  | X |  |
|   Scheduling/Reliability | X | X | X |  |  |
|   Econ Development |  |  |  | X | X |
|   Facility Capital Costs | X |  |  | X |  |
|   Facility Maint Costs | X |  |  | X |  |

**ANALYTIC TOOLS**

## MULTI-MODAL BENEFIT-COST

## PUBLIC MOTIVATIONS

**Project ******** Relevance ******** Motivation ******** Lessons & Outcomes**

## CONCLUSIONS

**CONCLUSIONS**

**Rail freight **_**can**_** be a viable solution in some cases.**
**Public investment can enlarge the market that freight rail addresses.**
**Motor carriers can be allies.  Facing labor shortages, truck delays and mounting fuel prices, they can see rail freight as a positive option.**
**When rail succeeds in winning traffic, it does so with competitive service that also boosts the efficiency of motor carriers.***** ***
**Public-private partnerships can be appropriate, realistic and valuable for both parties. **
**Institutional barriers are surmountable.**

## Contacts:

_**Contacts:**_
**Joseph Bryan, Global Insight:**
*joe.bryan@globalinsight.com*
**Glen Weisbrod, Economic Development Research Group**
*gweisbrod@edrgroup.com*
**Carl Martland**
*martlan@attglobal.net*
_**Guide**_
**www.trb.org/NotesDocs/NCHRP08-42_Guidebook_Rev10-06.pdf**
_**Report**_
**www.trb.org/NotesDocs/NCHRP08-42_FR_Rev10-06.pdf**