'Cold trains' match trucks for delivery speed

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Five days a week, a refrigerated train leaves the Port of Quincy in Washington State and carries a load of fresh and frozen produce to Chicago non-stop. The state-of-the-art, 53-foot refrigerated containers are double stacked. Temperatures in the cars are remotely controlled.  The four day trip, which compares with a typical train trip of as long as two weeks, is on a par with truck traffic. It is called the Cold Train.

A press release issued by operator CTI Freight Systems, a spinoff of the parent company Rail Logistics of Overland Park, Kan., doesn't say that the Cold Train is cheaper than trucks. However, it does say that diesel requirements are lower and the "carbon footprint" is reduced by 50 per cent.

From Chicago, Midwestern products are moved west to Washington for local distribution.

There are plans to provide service from Washington to markets in Atlanta, Florida, the northeast and even to California, which is next door. BF