In theory, Amtrak being in the express business seemed like a good idea, in the sense that adding a few cars to the end of a passenger train would have few costs. But the equipment was not cheap, the switching moves shuffling the equipment at stations were time consuming and expensive, and the impact on passenger convenience was severe. Too much had changed since the days of the traditional pre-Amtrak headend mail and express business.
The need for reliable less-than-carload, and less-than-truckload service became obvious in 1996 when the UP and SP merged and melted down. "Then the CSX-NS breakup of Conrail resulted in more service meltdowns, so shippers wanted a reliable expedited service that the freight railroads couldn't provide. And UPS wanted to buy Amtrak, but that's another story." "UPS wanted expedited service nationwide, at truck-like speeds, and they still do. Amtrak is the only railroad that runs at truck-like speeds."
The need for reliable less-than-carload, and less-than-truckload service became obvious in 1996 when the UP and SP merged and melted down. "Then the CSX-NS breakup of Conrail resulted in more service meltdowns, so shippers wanted a reliable expedited service that the freight railroads couldn't provide. And UPS wanted to buy Amtrak, but that's another story." "UPS wanted expedited service nationwide, at truck-like speeds, and they still do. Amtrak is the only railroad that runs at truck-like speeds."
There was a failed meeting with the president of UPS and several senior Amtrak executives, that resulted in UPS turning away from the potential deal for correlation between Amtrak for passenger service, and UPS for freight service.
It was George Warrington (Amtrak president, 1998-2002) who backed Ed Ellis' Amtrak Express initiative in which fleets of boxcars and RoadRailers supplemented the existing Material Handling Cars, with many of them trailing the Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Capitol Limited and other long distance trains. (In November 1997, Ed Ellis was promoted from Amtrak's Senior Director, Mail & Express, to an Amtrak Vice-Presidency)
It was David L. Gunn (Amtrak president, 2002-2005) who shut it down and also unilaterally withdrew Amtrak from its contract with the U.S. Postal Service.
It was George Warrington (Amtrak president, 1998-2002) who backed Ed Ellis' Amtrak Express initiative in which fleets of boxcars and RoadRailers supplemented the existing Material Handling Cars, with many of them trailing the Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Capitol Limited and other long distance trains. (In November 1997, Ed Ellis was promoted from Amtrak's Senior Director, Mail & Express, to an Amtrak Vice-Presidency)
It was David L. Gunn (Amtrak president, 2002-2005) who shut it down and also unilaterally withdrew Amtrak from its contract with the U.S. Postal Service.
https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/1hpp7so/amtrak_roadrailer_in_syracuse_new_york_possibly
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