What can we do to help relationships with Class I Railroads?
How can shippers transition from truck-to-truck to more truck-to-rail?
The key to building strong relationships with Class I Railroads is by understanding how those Railroads operate and learning how our objectives fit into their business. Far too often, the Class I’s are seen as a hindrance to growth by creating burdens too overwhelming to overcome, resulting in lost opportunities to transition to rail. This can be in low volume or high volume lanes.
I’ve seen huge success to the contrary when a strong business relationship is forged between the Class I’s & Short Lines, where both railroads understand the efficiencies and challenges each is up against. Understanding ahead of time how a new transload opportunity will fit in Class I operating schemes will go a long way in deciding how best to approach that business. An example is understanding not only how the Class I serves your location, but how that traffic will be handled over the rest of their system.
Working together with your Class I partners to understand which types of lanes are most, and least, desirable to them will go a long way when it comes time to discuss transit times, rates, and service reliability. Your Class I partners will appreciate that effort, and oftentimes will be more willing to work together as a team.