Dual-use gondola car remains an elusive development

Mar 31, 2011 | 07:00 PM |

Tags  Gondola Cars, Supply Chain,

A gondola car that can carry scrap to the steel mill and then carry finished rolls or long products outbound has been a shining vision for shippers, carriers and mills for decades. But the devil is in the details.

"Historically, there have been many ideas related to developing rail cars that can perform multiple functions. In modular (gondola cars), there is the issue of how to reposition the cradles to the mill since the cars carrying the scrap will not have room for them. Multi-purpose cars will generally carry some penalty in terms of weight, capacity loss or costs that have made them unattractive. That is not to say a future development would not be successful," one member of the North American Freight Car Association said.....