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Freight Train | The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Introduction

Shipping cargo, goods, and containers are one of the significant issues that traders face all the time.

Freight trains made a massive impact in shipping because of their potential in moving faster and cheap costing.

Without a few complexities, shipping via train is pretty valuable for people around the world.

In this FAQ guide, you will learn all the information about shipping by freight train worldwide and its advantages.

Table Of Contents

1. What Is A Freight Train?
2. How Many People Does It Take To Operate A Freight Train?
3. What Are The Biggest Train Shipping Companies?
4. Why Are Passenger Trains Faster Than Freight Trains?
5. How Much Is The Train Shipping Rate?
6. How Much Do Freight Trains Pay To Use The Railroads?
7. How Many 40’ Containers Can A Freight Train Carry Maximum?
8. What Is The Importance Of Train Shipping?
9. How Much Is A Modern Freight Train Locomotive Capable Of Pulling?
10. What Determines Whether A Freight Train Has Higher Priority Than Another Freight Train?
11. What Are The Most Common Goods Transported Via Rail?
12. Is It More Economically Efficient To Transport Goods By Freight Trains?
13. What Are The Requirements Of Railway Logistics?
14. How Do Freight Trains Connect The World?
15. What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Shipping Goods Via Train?
16. What Are The Things To Consider When Shipping By Rail?
17. What Is Intermodal Rail Freight?
18. How Many Miles To A Gallon Does A Shipping Train Get?
19. What Is The Cheapest Mode Of Logistics Trucking Through Rails?
20. Why Don’t Paper Mills Get Shipped By Rail Anymore?
21. How Many Cars Can A Train Pull Legally?
22. Will Hyperloop Replace Freight Trains?

1. What is A Freight Train?

A freight train, also known as a cargo train or goods train carries goods from one place to another if you want to transport your goods.

One or more locomotives (engines) help to haul the carriage of the goods to move from place to place.

It helps to transport cargo from shipper to destination. It works as part of a logistics chain.

Train transporting can be more efficient than other types of transporting.

Train logistics can also be cheaper than other ways of transformation (without some exceptions).

So, freight trains can be a good option for you.

2. How Many People Does It Take To Operate A Freight Train?

There are only two persons needed to operate a train, a conductor and an engineer. The operator can run it by using one person also.

Because if he performs the locomotive, then he will operate the whole train.

The conductor is mainly for managing all the paperwork, and he is in charge of the train.

He contains track warrants, clearances, train manifest, switch lists, etc.

While switching, he helps to command the engineer to operate switches, connecting and disconnecting cars as a ground guy.

Sometimes before, Americans and Canadians tried to operate freight trains with a single person. But the complaints made them terminate their decision. So, now two persons use a freight train all around the world.

3. What Are The Biggest Train Shipping Companies?

According to the statistics, several train shipping companies have here are several train shipping companies with billions of net worth market values. Among them, some from the statistics portal Statista are given below:

• Canadian National Railway (Canada) worth 51.6 billion USD
• East Japan Railway (Japan) worth 36.2 billion USD
• Norfolk Southern (USA) worth 27.1 billion USD
• Daqin Railway (China) worth 15 billion USD

4. Why Are Passenger Trains Faster Than Freight Trains?

The most common issue for passenger trains is that the weight it carries is way less than freight trains. There is some more reason too for you to understand:

• Passenger trains’ speed limit is 5-10 mph faster than freight trains.
• Passenger trains’ hauling power is way higher than freight trains. That makes passenger trains a great advantage of being fast.
• Freight trains generally carry a lot of goods loaded in them. On the contrary, passenger trains are usually empty, sometimes filled with some people and luggage, making them lighter than freight trains.
• Dispatchers can expedite over passenger trains faster than freight trains (without some exceptions).

5. How Much Is The Train Shipping Rate?

Shipping costs vary from how you are transporting it. When you load a whole container only with your goods, most freight companies charge fixed prices without charging for extra weight.

Approximately train logistics cost roughly Combining$70-80 per net ton. The cost of combining rail and truck terminals is roughly $95-$100 by using a bulk transfer terminal.

If you want to ship your products at a cheap rate, then we welcome you to HART WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS LIMITED.

We can help you to ship your product via rail transport in the most efficient way possible. You can reduce a lot of money from shipping. Feel free to have a look at us!

6. How Much Do Freight Trains Pay To Use The Railroads?

Without a few exceptions, they own the railroads. The person who owns the railroads also operates too.

For example, BNSF owns and also uses their freight trains on the track.

Most railroads make a mutual agreement so that they can use each other’s passage for transport.

For the most part, railroads are privately owned like these types of companies, even though they are publicly trading stocks

So, people who are using railroads need not pay charges to use the railroads. There are a few exceptions; like in Australia, the federal or state government owns most rail tracks. They give those rail tracks on lease so that others can use them.

7. How Many 40’ Containers Can A Freight Train Carry Maximum?

Flat wagons can carry mostly two 40’ (12.2 m) containers on top of another. But because of the limited vertical clearance, most flatcars can carry only one.

If there is enough vertical clearance, you can carry two containers in your double-stack flat wagon.

China runs double-stack trains without allowing two maximum height containers together. Double stacking is used in many countries, but they do not get permission to stack two containers together.

A typical 120 car train can normally haul 240 containers. You can learn more about train carriage over here:

Hence, depending on the situation, you can take either one or two maximum containers to carry from one place to another.

8. What Is The Importance Of Train Shipping?

Since February 28, 1827, train freight has made a great change in the logistics industry. The changes, making ease of transporting containers filled with products and goods have made a vital role for people.

It is continuing to grow, developing further into the intermodal.

People acknowledged train transportation benefits from the beginning, that is why they are still using it.

Train transport is far cheaper than any other transport (except sea transport) in the logistics industry. People should recognize its contribution to the economy.

After the arrival of freight trains, freight volume has expanded by 60% since 1995. It is now recovering from the recession a lot.

According to the industry forecasts, freight demand may grow up to 30% within the next decade, and rail freight might increase by as much as 140%.

Now, most of the economy depends on rail freight. Most of the shipments arrive via train nowadays.

Train shipping is one of the most cost reduction methods.

You can save a lot of money by supplying your products by train.

HART WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS LIMITED can help you to ship your goods from anywhere in the world easily, with less time. You will be surprised by seeing how much HART Logistics can save your money.

9. How Much Is A Modern Freight Train Locomotive Capable Of Pulling?

It depends on the type of locomotive, steepness of the grade of track, and sharpness of the curve in the railroad track.

Depending on them, a locomotive can pull around 25-30 million pounds of weight.

WAG 9 can haul like 4000-5000 tonnes of goods at 60 mph.

Again, Australian grain trains can pull from 3500 to 4000 tons.

If you have hills in your area, then the tonnage rating varies and depends on per hp of that area. You can pull faster in the flat land than the hills.

So, there is no easy answer. You have to calculate it in an above-mentioned way.

10. What Determines Whether A Freight Train Has Higher Priority Than Another Freight Train?

There are some factors that create differences between freight trains.

• One of the factors is what the freight train is loading. Like, UPS shipments comparing coal.

Railroads have an order like high priority intermodal trains, regular intermodal trains, coal or grains supplying trains, mixed freight trains.

• Whether a train has high priority or not, you can determine it by watching a dispatcher. He sidetracks a high-priority train logistics for a few minutes in order to pass the lower priority train by.

Also, A higher priority train might be held at the yard to allow other lower priority trains to finish their runs.

• There is a great difference between a higher priority train and another freight train in charging rate by the railroads.

A train filled with tonnes of coal is less charged than a train filled with tonnes of UPS shipments.

11. What Are The Most Common Goods Transported Via Rail?

You can ship about anything by rail transport from coal to the products that make a house a home. The trains can haul almost anything that you want to ship. The goods that you can ship via rail are-

• Building materials: Lumber, Pipe, Rebar, Paper, Bricks, Metal Coil, etc.
• Food: Packaged food, Chocolate, Produce, Frozen food, Canned food, etc.
• Liquids: Biodiesel, Petroleum, LPG, Ethanol, etc.
• Household Goods: Shoes, Parcels, Boxes, Appliances, Electronics, Clothing, Furniture, etc.
• Large Items: Wind turbine blades, Transformers, Military vehicles, etc.
• Small Items: Sand, Flour, Soda ash, etc.
• Vehicles: Trucks, SUVs, Cars, Auto-mobile parts, etc.
• Other: Fibers, Minerals, Paper, Feed Products, Paint, Irrigation Equipment, Solar panels, etc.

As you can see that you can ship probably anything via rail. So, start shipping now if you are stuck with how to send or receive your goods.

12. Is It More Economically Efficient To Transport Goods By Freight Trains?

Transporting goods by freight trains is one of the most effective ways to transport freight. It is far better than both air and ocean freight.

The reduction of exhaust emissions is a great advantage for rail transport.

Comparing how much CO2 is created by other transport, rail transport has a total win-win situation.

One of the problems that every person faces while shipping is the duration to receive their goods. Train logistics have made a massive solution to this problem.

It is very punctual, ships faster, and also cuts transport times in half. Unlike road or sea freight that cannot move while the weather is in bad condition, rails don’t have any obstructions. It reduces the delay times in these circumstances. So, it can save you economically.

If you supply bulk goods, grain, coal, etc. the cost of freight trains is much lower than other transportation.

Without that, to transport after the porting destination, the truck handles the goods. But still, it is much more efficient than other transport. Also, the cost of transportation is significantly low. So, train logistics transport is much more efficient than other transport by road or even by sea.

13. What Are The Requirements Of Railway Logistics?

There are some requirements that railway logistics have. For further development, the requirements should be met properly.

Of particular importance to the further development of the Rail Freight Corridor(RFC), and common to all the topics are-

• Better cooperation between Infrastructure Managers(IM) and RU. It has to be done so that the in-depth knowledge of the logistics industry and end-user customers from RU can be sufficiently taken into account.
• Ensuring better practice and lessons learned on a regular basis about cross-border harmonization of technical, operational, and administrative.
• Better cooperation between IMs and all across RFCs is needed to ensure seamless transportation.

14. How Do Freight Trains Connect The World?

Train freight is one of the best ways to transport freight globally. Although for low-cost freight transport, people may use seaways.

It is because most of the population lives beside the sea. Still, the world’s largest countries by economy use rail transportation a lot.

Freight trains cannot move without rail tracks. It is a great disadvantage. But if you look deeper, you can see that freight trains can carry a lot more than others on the road.

Freight trains are faster and cheaper to transport from place to place. The main competitor to freight trains is trucks. The train has less resistance. A single locomotive can pull a whole train faster than a truck can go.

Freight trains are quite efficient comparatively from other transports economically and also environmentally. You can learn more about how freight trains connect the world here-

15. What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Shipping Goods Via Train?

There are many advantages and disadvantages a freight train transport has. They are:

Advantages:

• Better Organised: Because of the fixed routes and schedules, the freight train is better organized than other means of transport.
• Suitability: As it is quicker, carrying heavy and bulk of goods is easy for it.
• Safety: There are only minor chances of accidents compared to other modes of transportation. Freight trains are the safest form of transport.
• Larger Capacity: You can add more wagons to train freight. It can carry double 40’ containers. It has more capacity and also great control to move.
• Employment Opportunities: Over 1.6 million persons depend on railways for their livelihood.
• Dependability: Freight trains are the least affected transportation from any type of weather condition. You can depend on train transport.

Along with the advantages, there are some disadvantages too while shipping in freight trains.

Disadvantages:

• Lack of Flexibility: Trains are not flexible with time and routes. It has a fixed time, and also the route is fixed. So, if you want to ship something, you have to maintain it with train time and destination port.
• Lack of Door Door Service: You cannot hope for door-to-door service from rail transport. Because they are always on track, you have to pick the shipment from the port they will arrive.
• Unsuitability: Freight trains are suitable only for long-distance and bulk loads. But for short distances and small loads, it is a major disadvantage.
• Under-utilized Capacity: If the rail has less load, for under-utilization of its capacity.

16. What Are The Things To Consider When Shipping By Rail?

While shipping by any means, air, sea, rail, or land, there are some things that you need to consider before shipping.

Those considerations may have an impact on the budget, goal, and even logistics processes.

While you are shipping containers by rail, you need to consider the need for another transport type like- trucks or trailers.

Because trains finish their destination at the station. So, you need to pick it up from there by truck.

Trucks will help you here to reach your actual destination from the station. At each of the rail trips, you need trucks to complete the delivery.

If you want to ship your goods properly with ease and in no situation like this, HART WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS LIMITED can help you out. You don’t need to worry about the changes and destination.

We will help you to make the transport flexible, along with that, it will make your shipping cost-efficiently.

17. What Is Intermodal Rail Freight?

Intermodal rail freight is a kind of transportation method where freights are moving by two modes, by railroad, and by truck.

Railroad hauls the containers to a destination point and from there, a local truck takes the container to its final destination.

Intermodal rail freight is a bit less expensive than other systems. It is an alternative to truckload, where it undercuts the price of the total shipment by 10% to 15%.

The process of intermodal is very easy. The truck moves the container to the rail station. From there, the train goes to a specific point where the destination port is. From the destination point, the track again takes the container and ships it to the specific destination. Here are some more data that you can learn:

18. How Many Miles To A Gallon Does A Shipping Train Get?

Calculating the exact miles is a bit difficult because of the highly variable figures. It depends on a lot of things like freight cars, the weight of the cargo, and so on.

A freight train can move one ton of freight about 450-500 miles on average on one gallon of fuel. It makes rail an environmentally friendly way to move freight over lang.

Depending on the locomotive, CSX trains can move approximately 492 miles/gallon with one ton of freight.

Looking at the value, we can say that it is far better than a truck where it pulls 145 miles/gallon of the same weight.

19. What Is The Cheapest Mode Of Logistics Trucking Through Rails?

The cheapest mode of logistics trucking through rails is obviously intermodal rail shipping. It is all dependent on the qualification of you giving the cheapest.

As you know about intermodal rail shipping, the process of rail and truck to ship a container is very easy and efficient. The cost to ship like this is way less than other types of shipping.

Talking about other types of shipping, air, and sea both shipping is costlier than intermodal rail shipping.

Weather, age of equipment, and equipment size make a lot of variance in the final cost.

20. Why Don’t Paper Mills Get Shipped By Rail Anymore?

The major issue is the damage that happens to the papers is why paper mills don’t get shipped by rail anymore.

There are more reasons for this situation. Looking deep into it, you will see that it is cheaper to have trucks haul it in.

Due to the huge demand in this pandemic, shipping by trucks gets the paper products straight to the distributors, stores, and even to consumers much quicker and cheaper than rail freight.

21. How Many Cars Can A Train Pull Legally?

The limit that a train can pull is not legalized. But, there are some practical limits: the power and drawbar strength. In most cases, 200 cars are the maximum.

If you add two engines to a train to get it over the road, it might break down. It can happen because of exceeding drawbar load limits.

There are some more theories too. You must clear a crossing within 5 minutes or less. More than that is restricted.

22. Will Hyperloop Replace Freight Trains?

There might be possibilities of Hyperloop replacing freight trains.

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is making a thought about this concept. His concept was the hyperloop can transport at 700-plus mph.

It depends on time whether it will even happen or not.

A cargo version of Hyperloop was designed in order to haul cars and containers so that it could create a solution for transport between specialized locations.

Final Words

Hope this FAQ guideline will help to clear all your confusion regarding shipping via Freight Train.

For a Better experience, HART WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS LIMITED can help you out with cheap and fast shipping options.

We are one of the renowned companies in China that are helping out a lot in logistics management. So, feel free to check us out!

So, don’t worry about it and let us know what you need to know.

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