Practical Steps for Highway to Intermodal Rail Conversion

Practical Steps for Highway to Intermodal Rail (H2R) Conversion in Your Supply Chain
The process of H2R conversion has become a major focus for shippers looking to reduce transportation costs, while improving overall supply chain efciency.

Economic and regulatory factors, paired with advancements by railroads in intermodal infrastructure, have motivated shippers to review their current modal choices.

Proactive modal selection can help reduce your supply chain’s exposure to marketplace risk factors.

Historically, intermodal rail was believed to be a best fit for long-haul, transcontinental freight.

As a result of the rail industry’s focus on improving the efefficiency and service performance of intermodal solutions, freight moving shorter distances, down to roughly 500 miles, is now considered to be a viable intermodal rail solution.

With the growing number of domestic intermodal rail routes now available across the United States, shippers benefit from more intermodal options.

However, the expanded intermodal options may make it difficult for shippers to understand, in a holistic view, which truckload freight lanes in their supply chain are the right candidates for H2R conversion.

CSX Transportation (CSXT) has developed an H2R program that works directly with the shipping community to analyze freight networks, which identifies the most beneficial freight for shippers to convert to an intermodal rail solution.

The following should serve as a road map in your journey to identify H2R opportunity within your current modal framework, ultimately leading to a more ef cient and sustainable supply chain.