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What is a railroad interchange?

Most freight shipments via rail involve more than one rail carrier. Freight is exchanged at a location called the interchange. See the example below:

Does The Interchange Meet Your Freight Requirements?

[dropcap cap=”1″]Carload Capacity: If a potential rail customer is planning on shipping 90 car unit trains, routing through an interchange that only holds 50 is a serious limitation. [/dropcap] [dropcap cap=”2″]Days of Service: If a potential rail shipper needs 7 days of service, this is an important factor to know, as some interchanges only receive service a couple days a week. [/dropcap] [dropcap cap=”3″]286,000 Pound Limit: Some rail locations are not equipped to handle today’s larger railcars, which weigh up to 286,000 pounds. This can also be a limiting factor at the interchange.[/dropcap]

Other Important Things To Note

[dropcap cap=”1″]Are They Captive?You need to know how many interchanges you have access to. In other words, how many different routes can you source or receive freight. If your facility is located on a regional railroad, it is important to know whether it connects to to multiple Class I rail carriers. Having multiple connections ensures the most competitive pricing and service.[/dropcap] [dropcap cap=”2″]Multiple Interchanges: Having a single interchange not only reduces competition, but it also increases the risk during a natural disaster. For example, a bridge washes out, and your freight must come from a single interchange. This could put your facility out of service for months.[/dropcap]

A unit train is a freight train carrying the same type of commodity, from origin to destination. Depending on the railroad and location, they can be between 65 cars in length and 200 cars (or more). The locomotives pulling the train will usually stay connected from origin to destination, which is why you will find a locomotive from one railroad on another railroad. This keeps the train running efficiently, which is why unit trains are the most efficient form of land transportation.

There are many databases that can assist you in finding a rail served industrial site. Generally each state has its own database of sites with the various acreage, utility, environmental permitting, and pricing information. Additionally, railroads keep a list of their own properties. Please contact Russ Smitley if you need assistance with a project that involves rail.

Access NC (Formerly NCEDIS)

Sites and Buildings database collected by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. It is part of the Thrive NC program to give new or expanding businesses the ability to search for properties that may suit their needs.

Depending on how much and how far away the freight needs to be moved, the transportation costs can be dramatically less than using truck direct for the shipment. Since rail is more efficient over long distances, freight rates are often be lower. The Class I railroads have dozens of facilities across the country designed to move goods from rail to truck. In North Carolina, for example, CSX has TRANSFLOⓇ locations along its network, and Norfolk Southern has various terminals along the east coast. In addition, many shortlines have places capable of transloading from rail to truck. On our railroad, the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, we have moved ethanol, butane, lumber, and other commodities from rail to truck at our established transloading sites in Star, Oakboro, or Midland, NC. We also have sidings where spot transloading can be accommodated. Shippers like using our shortline for transloading because they can source from either Norfolk Southern or CSX. In addition, they like the savings that we bring with less labor and facility costs.

rule of thumb for new track construction is between $1 Million – $2 Million per mile, depending on who is constructing the track. Some rail clients need alot of track space to handle unit trains over a mile long. Below is a basic cost estimate for a mile long siding.

	Price per Unit [-]	# Units [-]	Total Cost [-]
No.10 Degree Switches	$25,000 per switch	2 switches	$50,000
No.10 Switch Timbers	$6,200 per timber	2 timbers	$12,400
No.2 Relay 132/136 lb rail	$700 per ton	245 tons	$171,500
7″x9′ Ties on 21″ Centers	$55.22 per tie	3,017 ties	$166,598.74
Ballast (Rock)	$27.00 per ton	6,000 tons	$162,000.00
Spikes 68 Kegs	$65.00 per keg	68 kegs	$4,000
Labor			Varies by Contractor
Grading			Varies by Contractor/Topography/Soil
Drainage Pipes			Varies by Amt of Water Runoff
Road Crossings			Varies

Paying for the siding is driven by a combination of state and local funding options, which are in turn a function of jobs, investment, and future taxes. In rare cases, with enough volume (2,000 or more railcars annually), railroads can pay for a portion of the siding construction costs.

You can always put a non-rail industry on a rail-served site, but you can’t put an industry that needs rail service on a non-rail site. What are the requirements for a site to be rail served?

[dropcap cap=”1″]Slope: A rail site must be able to overcome the elevation changes between the mainline and unloading pad. The siding must meet the following requirements: [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Single Car Service: siding must have less than a 2.5% slope for single railcar service[/li][li]Unit Train Service: siding must have less than a 1.5% slope for Unit Train Service[/li][/list][/dropcap]{boxfolder 117378336}

[dropcap cap=”2″]Siding Curvature: Trains cannot turn as sharply as trucks. Therefore, the turning radius can be as much as 600 feet for a train compared to 60 feet for a truck. I like to use the ballpark analogy where trucks only need the infield to make a complete turn around while trains need the entire ballpark.[/dropcap] [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Recommended Curvature: less than 10 Degrees[/li][li]Maximum Curvature: curvature over 12 Degrees requires written approval of the Chief Engineer[/li][/list]{boxfolder 109070744}

[dropcap cap=”3″]Track Layouts: Track configuration is driven by freight volume requirements and are also driven by the slope and curvature requirements. Here are the most basic types of configurations: [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Basic Stub-In: this configuration allows cars to be placed and pulled out in one direction only. {boxfolder 108985928}[/li][li]Runaround: Usually parallels the mainline and can accomodate traffic from either direction. {boxfolder 108985912}[/li][li]Loop Track: designed to support continuous movement for faster unloading or large trains.{boxfolder 109056236}[/li][/list] [div class=”doc” class2=”typo-icon”] Costs of a Rail Siding[/div][/dropcap]

[dropcap cap=”4″]Nearby Obstacles: turnouts for rail sidings also cannot be located near:[/dropcap] [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Rail Curves: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a curve[/li][li]Road Crossings: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a road crossing[/li][li]Bridges & Tunnels Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a bridge or tunnel.[/li][li]Another Turnout: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of another turnout.[/li][/list]