Road Rail Intermodalism Workshop:
Objectives

There is a crisis looming in the American freight system. Economic growth, the spatial dispersion of people and industries, and the increasing role of international trade in the American economy are placing ever greater strain on infrastructure systems. Numerous assessments and studies have concluded that current trends in freight capacity expansion will not come close to meeting the anticipated growth in demand. More congestion, less reliability and higher transportation costs - all of which can greatly diminish the global competitiveness of the American economy are the likely outcomes of the status quo.

Road -Rail intermodalism is sure to play a major role in any solution to the current freight dilemma. At present, the worst strains are being felt on the highway system, while the rail system still has some slack capacity. At least in the short run, diverting freight goods to rail in certain sectors will help make the best use of the available capacity. In the long run, rail has certain advantages over road transportation that make expansion of rail capacity an efficient approach to addressing demand conditions. Not only is rail more efficient (both economically and environmentally) over long hauls, but the high potential freight density of rail corridors suggests a significant role for rail in serving ports and distribution centers in congested metropolitan areas. Despite these advantages, truck has the enduring advantage of being better able to serve the dispersed points of supply and demand in our increasingly dispersed economy. Thus rail-road intermodalism is an attractive way forward for ground transportation.

Great strides have been made in developing intermodal systems and the intermodal share of total surface freight is rising. It appears, however, that road-rail intermodal service has yet to come close to achieving its potential role in the American freight system. The objective of the Road-Rail Intermodalism Workshop is to identify obstacles to greater market penetration for intermodal surface transportation and define public and private policies that are necessary to push the road-rail system to the next level.

While efficient intermodal transportation that meets current standards for speed and timeliness presents a variety of technological problems, engineers and system managers have risen to the challenge with innovations in infrastructure design, IT and communications systems. We have the technology; therefore technology is not the main topic of this workshop. Instead, this workshop will focus on institutional impediments arising from a history of modal focus in both the public and private sectors and on solutions involving institutional innovations and cooperation across industries and government agencies.

The first goal of the workshop is to identify the potential benefits of substantially expanded road-rail intermodalism in an effort to place it more prominently on the policy agenda. A second goal is to explore the main institutional bottlenecks, including inadequate multimodal terminal facilities, problems in financing and the need for improved institutions. Third, the workshop will provide a showcase for case studies illustrating the strategies that are working now to unlock the full potential of road-rail intermodalism. Finally, the workshop will feature a Policy Discussion Panel to highlight future policy, institutional, and partnership approaches for the way ahead.

Please note that this is by invitation only.

For more information, please call Laura Guild 617-358-0206