Uday Schultz
@a320lga.bsky.social
But if I'm being honest, trying to rustle up some additional "normal" freight rail recievers in the Chelsea/Somerville zone would prob be easier than doing that. If you can do so, you just run the existing local daily, and this (*maybe*) becomes another task for it.
October 9, 2025 at 2:53 AM
But if I'm being honest, trying to rustle up some additional "normal" freight rail recievers in the Chelsea/Somerville zone would prob be easier than doing that. If you can do so, you just run the existing local daily, and this (*maybe*) becomes another task for it.
10 truckloads ~ 3 carloads, so you'd probably need another several customers before CSX would be willing to run a dedicated train. Presuming you found that and you could get T to play ball so it can do the run + switching within a single crew, then maybe it'd work
October 9, 2025 at 2:51 AM
10 truckloads ~ 3 carloads, so you'd probably need another several customers before CSX would be willing to run a dedicated train. Presuming you found that and you could get T to play ball so it can do the run + switching within a single crew, then maybe it'd work
we need to put the "value" back in "value engineering"
October 9, 2025 at 2:49 AM
we need to put the "value" back in "value engineering"
That said, it's exactly the kind of fun experiment that we *ought* to try out--we've got little in the way of good models for rail traffic development in this country. Unsure whether CSX would play ball, but if somebody could find a few reefers and spur money...
October 9, 2025 at 2:45 AM
That said, it's exactly the kind of fun experiment that we *ought* to try out--we've got little in the way of good models for rail traffic development in this country. Unsure whether CSX would play ball, but if somebody could find a few reefers and spur money...
Generally speaking, this kind of ultra-short-haul freight is sensitive to ops design (fewer switching moves = better), car cycle times, consistency, and of course volume. Given that there isn't a daily freight to Boston anymore, it may be a bit of an uphill climb...
October 9, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Generally speaking, this kind of ultra-short-haul freight is sensitive to ops design (fewer switching moves = better), car cycle times, consistency, and of course volume. Given that there isn't a daily freight to Boston anymore, it may be a bit of an uphill climb...
This is a fun one. Reminds me a lot of the Monoprix experiment in Paris www.researchgate.net/figure/Conce...
Figure 4 : Concept of supply chain used by Monoprix in France
Download scientific diagram | Concept of supply chain used by Monoprix in France from publication: The Use of Rail Transport as Part of the Supply Chain in an Urban Logistics Context | Rails, Logisti...
www.researchgate.net
October 9, 2025 at 2:40 AM
This is a fun one. Reminds me a lot of the Monoprix experiment in Paris www.researchgate.net/figure/Conce...
Some of which is a problem orientation issue, some of which is a mandate issue, and some of which is a predictable consequence of letting railroads scream “reporting burden” way too much
October 9, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Some of which is a problem orientation issue, some of which is a mandate issue, and some of which is a predictable consequence of letting railroads scream “reporting burden” way too much
Yes, and I’d specifically single out operational knowledge of the network as being a key difference. The 2010s-20s FRA would never commission the breadth and depth of research into rail operations *drivers* as the 1970s did
October 9, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Yes, and I’d specifically single out operational knowledge of the network as being a key difference. The 2010s-20s FRA would never commission the breadth and depth of research into rail operations *drivers* as the 1970s did
And it’s not just the northeast, either. Seattle lost its best route east because the BN was in a cost-cutting mood throughout the mid-1980s!
October 9, 2025 at 1:49 AM
And it’s not just the northeast, either. Seattle lost its best route east because the BN was in a cost-cutting mood throughout the mid-1980s!
If the 1970s were the golden age (or really, moment) of rail planning, the 1980s were quite literally the opposite. Many of our worst capacity, network, and institutional planning decisions emanated from the simultaneous withdrawal of any public framework around rail + deregulation cost pressure
October 9, 2025 at 1:46 AM
If the 1970s were the golden age (or really, moment) of rail planning, the 1980s were quite literally the opposite. Many of our worst capacity, network, and institutional planning decisions emanated from the simultaneous withdrawal of any public framework around rail + deregulation cost pressure
For sure! Plenty of examples there in the energy space too. But I think it’s probably fair to say that their incentive structures and risk calculations are much more soluble than private-market firms, esp given the tendencies of current-day capital markets
October 9, 2025 at 1:42 AM
For sure! Plenty of examples there in the energy space too. But I think it’s probably fair to say that their incentive structures and risk calculations are much more soluble than private-market firms, esp given the tendencies of current-day capital markets
(Conversely, I’d also love to know how WMATA’s own access rules and resource constraints impact timelines here. But that’s prob even harder to find out!)
October 9, 2025 at 1:24 AM
(Conversely, I’d also love to know how WMATA’s own access rules and resource constraints impact timelines here. But that’s prob even harder to find out!)
On the last point: a theme in electrification lit is that RRs have often found electrification to be nominally remunerative, but extremely sensitive to assumptions about power availability, fuel prices, costs, regulatory path etc. If only we had a means of reducing/financing that uncertainty! Gosh!
October 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
On the last point: a theme in electrification lit is that RRs have often found electrification to be nominally remunerative, but extremely sensitive to assumptions about power availability, fuel prices, costs, regulatory path etc. If only we had a means of reducing/financing that uncertainty! Gosh!
So hard to say without more knowledge of what, exactly, is going on (alas). Would love to know how WMATA is pricing this outage though—direct costs? direct costs + lost revenue? Both + something else? That kind of disruption should carry a large disincentive.
October 9, 2025 at 1:21 AM
So hard to say without more knowledge of what, exactly, is going on (alas). Would love to know how WMATA is pricing this outage though—direct costs? direct costs + lost revenue? Both + something else? That kind of disruption should carry a large disincentive.
But yeah, overall I’d say that the OP’s take is a bit disingenuous. We wouldn’t have the modern NEC without freight <> pax separation; we *would* have electric freight had it not been for the absence of any financing vehicle that could provide risk mitigation
October 9, 2025 at 1:16 AM
But yeah, overall I’d say that the OP’s take is a bit disingenuous. We wouldn’t have the modern NEC without freight <> pax separation; we *would* have electric freight had it not been for the absence of any financing vehicle that could provide risk mitigation
Not to put too fine a point on it, but: both of these shortcomings rather naturally flowed from the decision to set up both CR and Amtrak as *independent* money-making enterprises in an already fractured railroad environment
October 9, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Not to put too fine a point on it, but: both of these shortcomings rather naturally flowed from the decision to set up both CR and Amtrak as *independent* money-making enterprises in an already fractured railroad environment
u shld!! great subject material
October 1, 2025 at 7:05 AM
u shld!! great subject material
heh yeah. need to exercise it from time to time
October 1, 2025 at 4:56 AM
heh yeah. need to exercise it from time to time
inb4 "logistical and input cost pressures will continue to increase grocery prices faster than the rate of inflation for the forseeable future. we recommend further study to identify potential synergies in the structure of regional grocery supply chains."
August 18, 2025 at 12:39 AM
inb4 "logistical and input cost pressures will continue to increase grocery prices faster than the rate of inflation for the forseeable future. we recommend further study to identify potential synergies in the structure of regional grocery supply chains."