Comparative coal transportation costs: an economic and engineering analysis of truck, belt, rail, barge and coal slurry and pneumatic pipelines. Volume 2. Unit trains. Final report

Abstract

A unit train is a single purpose, dedicated, integrated train used for hauling a single commodity; coal in this study. It is composed of special purpose cars which haul continuously between a mine and the consumer. Advantages accrue to both the railroad and its customers. In fact, the advantages are sufficiently obvious for some customers (utilities) to own their own unit trains. For the coal burning utilities, they lower fuel expenditures and help to establish a stable fuel supply thereby reducing the level of inventories which must be held. The mining company benefits from increased efficiency in movement resulting in lower transport costs, a higher netback at the mine and the ability to make stable long-term contracts. These trains may move over 800 miles/day instead of the 60 miles/day associated with general freight schedules. This improvement could be reflected in lower rates which might increase coal usage through lower total prices for coal at the point of consumption. For the railroads, unit trains provide better utilization of equipment and plant than do other rail modes. Unit trains have been treated in detail in several previous studies. Among the important factors to note are: (1) they generate less revenue/ton shipped thanmore » general freight; (2) their cost is higher in stop and go situations than regular freight because unit trains carry more weight; (3) their costs are influenced by grades; and (4) the principal benefit of the system comes from the greater utilization of railway capacity. The basic costing procedures, facility descriptors and other parameters used in this study are based on recent work done at the University of Illinois.« less