RailRunner offers short-haul intermodal service

RailRunner, N.A., Inc., says its RailReach short-haul intermodal service, which it just put into commercial operation, can bring low-cost rail intermodal container shipping to the short-haul rail market and, potentially, to hundreds of smaller cities and towns throughout the United States. The first RailReach service, carrying containerized traffic by rail between Fort Wayne, IN and Jacksonville, FL, began Friday.

RailRunner’s patented railcar and container chassis system operates on both the highway and the rail line, allowing a shipper to shift from road to rail and back without the need for expensive cranes to loft the container from one carrier to another, says the company. Freight can be moved onto and off of the rails by a truck at a siding with minimal infrastructure changes in many cases, extending the benefits of intermodal rail service to markets and rail operators (such as short lines) that could not previously afford them, the company claims.

“This is an important step for RailRunner and for anyone who has containerized goods they want to move inexpensively and efficiently,” said Charles Foskett, CEO of RailRunner. “We have combined the flexibility of trucking with the cost advantages of rail so that businesses throughout the country can dramatically lower their shipping costs through our new short-haul intermodal capability.”

The RailReach service launched this week connects Jacksonville, a major container terminal serving Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, with Ft. Wayne a major center for mid-west manufacturing which does not have container-handling equipment.

"The RailReach solution can make sense for container shippers as far away as northern Michigan who are moving goods to the Florida or Caribbean markets and for manufacturers in the Southeast who want to reach the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan-Illinois container market cost-effectively," says Foskett.