Cold Train Intermodal expands
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefLaunched last April, the Pacific Northwest-Chicagoland Express Cold Train is expanding service to meet rapidly growing demand. This year will see expansion to the Southwest market.
The refrigerated intermodal container service went into operation in partnership with the Port of Quincy Interposal Terminal In December 2010. Cold Train was spun off from Rail Logistics of Overland Park, Kan. Chris Mnichowski, president of CTI Freight Systems, now the parent company of Cold Train Intermodal, said, “We needed to direct our time, talents, and resources to further build the Cold Train network and on acquiring additional assets to service growing customer demand.”
Five days a week, the Cold Train containers depart the Port of Quincy in central Washington with fresh or frozen produce loaded in 53-foot refrigerated containers and brought to the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal. There, the containers are double-stacked onto trains for an expedited, nonstop move to Chicago. On arrival in Chicago, each container is carefully placed on a truck chassis for transport to its final destination.
Cold Train says its containers take less than four days to destination, faster than conventional refrigerated boxcar service and on a par with trucks.
Lawson, vice president of Intermodal for Cold Train, says eastbound shipments have doubled since the beginning of the year and continue to climb. Additionally, westbound shipments have increased.
“For the past couple of months, the Cold Train has been completely full of cargo going both east and west … we fully believe this trend will continue which is why we are adding capacity,” Lawson added.
“We expect 300% growth this year over the operation in 2010,” stated Mnichowski. Mnichowski plans to start service from Quincy and Chicago into the Southeast U.S. market in 2011.
“As the Cold Train service continues to grow, we plan on providing service to areas such as Atlanta and Florida, and then pivoting to Northeast markets in the future and eventually to the California market,” added Mnichowski.
