By Scott Lindsey
Norfolk Southern’s Triple Crown Services (TCS) subsidiary made its long-expected conversion to domestic containers when it ended the operation of dedicated RoadRailer trains on the weekend of Aug. 24. The move comes as TCS decided earlier this year that the more than 1,000 53’ RoadRailer trailers on its roster were nearing the end of their serviceable life.
After NS’ 2015 decision to radically downsize its RoadRailer network in order to simplify intermodal operations and focus on domestic containers, TCS operations were cut back to one pair of trains moving auto parts from Detroit to Ford Motor’s Kansas City Assembly Plant. These included westbound Train 255 handling the parts traffic from TCS’ Oakwood Yard terminal in Detroit to the Voltz Intermodal Terminal east of Kansas City, Mo., along with eastbound counterpart Train 255.
Triple Crown will continue to support the Ford parts business, along with eastbound merchandise traffic procured to fill the empty equipment back to Detroit. However, the eastern terminus of the service will be shifted from Oakwood Yard to the NS intermodal facility in Toledo. TCS reports that this shift was acceptable to Ford, especially since the transit time remains essentially unchanged. With this route revision, the TCS trains will now use the former Conrail Chicago Line west of Toledo to Butler, Ind., where they will use the southeast connection track to resume their runs over NS’ former Wabash lines to Kansas City. Traffic will continue to move in TCS trailers on flat cars until the container fleet is completely activated.
While this brings an end to the RoadRailer era that gave birth to Triple Crown, the company views its container conversion decision as one enabling future growth. It is now able to pursue additional premium service opportunities across the NS network and with connecting railroads. Auto parts traffic to and from Mexico is one such target, and not surprising considering TCS’ expertise in that market. Earlier this year, NS merged Thoroughbred Direct Intermodal Services, Inc. and Triple Crown Services Company into Triple Crown Services, Inc., preparing TCS to aggressively go after new opportunities.
