Chalk up another one for the Southern Pacific. Through a fluke in rate bases, a customer could move specialty papers from Longview, Washington to Succasunna, New Jersey more cheaply in piggybacked trailers than he could in boxcars. The customer preferred boxcars as long as they were dependable and cost-competitive. So the short line, Conrail and the Union Pacific got the tariffs straightened out, put together a service proposal the customer could live with, and put the business back in boxcars where it belonged. Everybody is living happily ever after.
More Happy Endings Take the case of the wood chip exporter, for example.
He wants chips to come in when the ships are at the dock, and the rail connection just wasn't delivering. But thanks to a revised Norfolk Southern schedule put in place just to accommodate this move, the business was secured for Norfolk Southern and its short line connection. Over at CSX, there's a market manager who collaborates with the short line to make proposed contract rates work. Finally, one Conrail trainmaster truly has the interests of his short line connection at heart. He watches the cars move through the yard to make sure all the short line's freight makes it onto the short line's local.