How are rail freight rates calculated?

How are rail freight rates calculated?

This price is based on the weight and distance of the shipment. For example, if you ship 24 tons of a commodity 100 miles it would be 2,400 ton-miles. If the rate is $0.30 per ton-mile the transportation cost would be $720.

What does it cost to ship by rail?

The cost to combine rail and truck using a bulk transfer terminal is approximately $95.54 per net ton. By comparison, rail direct is $70.27 per net ton, and over-the-road truck is $214.96 per net ton. Using multi-modal rail and truck transit compared to truck alone, you can cut transportation costs by more than half.

What is cost per ton-mile?

Definition. Measures the average amount of money spent per one mile of distance traveled, in order to ship to a customer a ton of purchased merchandise.

Is rail freight cheaper than truck?

In some cases, rail freight can be cheaper, faster, more reliable and more sustainable than road haulage. The average freight train can carry the same load as 76 HGVs meaning operating costs are much lower and CO2 emissions for a shipment are reduced by 76%.

How do you calculate tons per mile?

The movement of one ton of freight a distance of one mile. Ton-miles are computed by dividing the weight in tons of each shipment transported by the distance hauled.

How do I calculate freight costs?

How to calculate freight density:

1. Multiply the three measurements (length, width and height). The result is the total cubic inches of the shipment. …
2. Divide the total cubic inches by 1,728 (the number of cubic inches in a cubic foot). …
3. Divide the weight (in pounds) of the shipment by the total cubic feet.

Is it cheaper to ship by rail or ship?

Not only can more containers be shipped via rail, but trains are more fuel-efficient, making intermodal cheaper for long hauls.

How much does it cost to run a train per mile?

Across the Amtrak system, the full cost to operate a train tends to land in the range of $0.30 to $0.70 per passenger-mile, though that number is dependent on a lot of things, perhaps the most important being the number of passengers onboard.

How efficient is train freight?

Fuel Efficiency – CSX.com. According to the AAR, moving freight by rail is 4 times more fuel efficient than moving freight on the highway. CSX trains can move a ton of freight approximately 492 miles on a single gallon of fuel. Efficient use of fuel means fewer greenhouse gas emissions for our planet.