Amtrak to Beef Up RoadRailer Fleet

ATLANTA — Amtrak Mail & Express is ordering an additional 129 RoadRailer units to keep up with growing demand for its cross-country shipping service.

The order includes 89 48-foot RoadRailer MailVans and 40 53-foot RoadRailer trailers manufactured by Wabash National Corp. of Lafayette, Ind.

In a briefing with reporters at the International Intermodal Expo, Edwin E. Ellis, vice president of Amtrak Mail & Express, said the new equipment will complement the 291 RoadRailer units already in service. He also said a total of 1,000 bimodal trailers should be in service by the end of the summer.

Amtrak also signed a memorandum of understanding with Triple Crown Services Co., an affiliate of Norfolk Southern Corp., to carry the company’s RoadRailer trailers in the Northeast Corridor.

The deal is expected to generate millions of dollars in new annual revenue for Amtrak. It will also allow both companies to capture a greater share of the market for express shipments between the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest.

The RoadRailer movements will operate primarily during the overnight hours when passenger rail traffic is minimal along the Northeast Corridor, officials said. Both companies will share terminal facilities at Portside Yard in New York and New Jersey and at facilities in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa.

According to Ellis, Amtrak Mail & Express is on track to meet its goal of generating revenue of $214 million by 2002, when Amtrak is supposed to be self-supporting.

The service generated revenue of $89 million in fiscal year 1998, and in the first five months of the current year, revenue is up 20%.

Ellis said the company is developing a periodical distribution service to complement the first-class mail it handles. Amtrak also carries package shipments, food products, auto parts and general freight for less-than-truckload carriers.

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