Case study analysis of factors influencing the adoption of heavy axle loading on Canadian short-line railroads
Loading...
Date
2017
Authors
Kristen Myles
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to analyze factors influencing the adoption of heavy axle loading (HAL) on short-line railroads in Canada. The research comprises a series of case studies which characterize selected Canadian short-line railroads. The approach stratifies the industry in terms of the type of ownership and geographic region. It also documents factors influencing the adoption of HAL for each railroad by examining the commodities it hauls (internal motivation) and its network connections to the Class 1 system (external motivation). Where available, infrastructure condition data are also reported. These studies revealed that all of the 31 railroads studied exhibited a medium-high or high overall motivation to adopt HAL. This reflects the nature of the short-line industry in Canada—filling a niche by hauling primarily heavy commodities (thereby providing internal motivation) while relying on Class 1 partners to offer complete services to their customers (thereby providing external motivation).
Description
Keywords
Short-line, Railroads, Axle loading