Are America's railroads snubbing car shipments?

[Haltech]

Filed under: Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing

Building a car, delivering it to a dealer and then selling to a consumer represents an enormous and elaborate process that relies on the seamless and often invisible work of many parts. The use of railways represents a huge part of that process, but according to a new report from Automotive News, automakers are getting rather upset with rail companies over delays in their shipping process.

According to AN, the federal government's Surface Transportation Board, the overseer of the nation's railways, has ordered rail carriers to deliver weekly reports on shipping schedules after shippers complained that their goods were being left at the depot in favor of other cargo.

These reports, the first of which will be issued on Wednesday, will detail everything from what sort of cargo is being hauled via rail car, to the type of train being used, the industry being served and any delays that crop up along the way.

While other industries have gotten in on the complaining, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is one of the most notable, representing 12 automakers.

"It appears that the priority of auto shipping has become less than that of other shippers," the AAM's vice president of governmental affairs, Shane Karr, told a US Senate committee last month, AN reports. According to Karr, one unnamed automaker has dropped an extra $13 million to ship 70,000 vehicles so that vehicles could be shipped by truck rather than by rail.Are America's railroads snubbing car shipments? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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