The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-06-19
FREIGHT TROUBLE IS CONGESTION
 AT TERMINALS

Freight congestion IS, In reality, | terminal congestion. The present railroad situation wildly demonstrates that the root of the. much discussed railroad inadequacy lies more in the lack of proper terminal facilities than it does in the lack of freight cars. It has further proved that the motor truck, properly used in conjunction with railroad terminals, can relieve terminal congestion and increase the productivity of each unit of the rail- roads rolling stock.
 Although it is estimated that the railroads of this country now need 5G0 600 more freight cars, it is obvious that. if this number of cars were put into service under existing terminal conditions, the confusion would only be increased.
 Unfortunately, the majority of rail- road terminals were constructed in the days of horse-drawn highway transportation. facilities, and no pro- vision was made for the advent of the motor truck. At that time it was necessary for the railroads to bring | their freight within a radius of days team haul of it's final destina- l tion, a distance considerably less than can now be covered by motor truck. Cities have grown and traffic S~s >n-
 creased, but the terminals have re- |
 as distribution radius is concerned. i As a result, the railroads are still at | tempting to operate on a horse
 drawn basis of ultimate distribution and consequently, freight piles up in l the yards and the tracks are filled
 with trains awaiting their turn to be
 unloaded. Although motor trucks
 are now being used to large extent
 instead of horses, the platform area available for transferring shipments from the freight car to the truck is so confined that it is impossible to avoid congestion.
 It is fact that the average freight
 car travels only about six miles day,
 and that this inefficiency can be at tributed directly to wasted time through terminal congestion. Con Isiderng that we now have over 2,400,- 900 freight cars in use, it can be seen that every mile per day added to. the productivity of this total by increas- ing terminal efficiency, is the equival- ent of four hundred thousand more cars. Thus it is obvious that if a continuous movement of freight cars ! to and from their terminal points can I be obtained, a. two-fold advantage will
 result; first, eliminating the delay
 and waste incidental to congest1ons, and second, releasing a vast number of cars for main line traffic.
 l To say that this can be accomplished
 by utilizing the motor truck is not a mere prophecy-it is a proven reality. The few railroads that have applied
 the use of trucks in their limited way
 to this problem have met with re-
 markab1e success and should stand as
 uncompromising examples to every
 railroad now affected by terminal
 congestion. For example, figures
 compiled by the U. S. Railroad Ad-
 Pio
 Four yards at, Cincinnati, the use of motor trucks with demountable bod ies has reduced the time required per
 ton-mile for transfer shipments from 12 hours and 8 minutes, to less than -f minutes. This saving of time is ac- ! companied by reduction of fifty cents per ton mile on the cost of the transfer shipments. The New Jersey
 Central Railroad has adopted motor l Jersey City terminal in a way that indicates immense possibilities fol 7 min i'm izing congestion. This termina ? became so congested during the re- cent general tieup that it became use less to send loaded freight cars there 2 So Plainf1eld, N- J., a city nearby wa: r made a terminal point and goods are trucks and hauled into Jersey City and other destination points.
 The idea of diverting shipments ] while not a new one, has up to tht 3 present been confined to emergenc!
 use It seems logical, however, tha
 1 the diverting principle presents tn
 most practicable means for perman k ently relieving the railroads of ter = mina1 congestion. By establishini
 subterminals at the outskirts of larg F. cities on the various lines of ap
 tproach- GaiEht loads could be trans