The future of intermodal transportation. (Editorial).

Intermodal transportation has always been around. Whenever freight was unloaded from a wagon and reloaded onto a rail car, in a sense, that was intermodal transportation (i.e., movement of the same cargo across two or more modes of transportation). However, what the term has come to mean today is the systematic movement of goods across multiple modes of transport. So, rather than unloading the wagon and putting the boxes onto the train, you roll the entire wagon onto a flatcar and ship the freight that way. Of course, the wagon is now a container, and literally millions of these are moved throughout the world each year. The advantages of intermodalism are significant. For those using containers, there is less damage to the goods and less risk of theft. The freight is loaded at origin and not touched again until it is unloaded from the container at destination.

In-transit handling is faster and more efficient, and the entire movement simply takes less time. Roll-on/roll-off vessels offer similar efficiencies for the movement of vehicles, permitting them to be driven directly onto and off of the ship rather than loading each individually with a crane. These benefits are of great interest to the military as anything that speeds up the movement of equipment and cargo to the fight improves the nation's ability to respond to a threat anywhere in the world.

Another benefit is that shippers can now use multiple modes and take advantage of the inherent advantages of each. For instance, rather than driving a truckload of freight across the country, the shipper can load the trailer, have it driven to a railhead for movement by train to the destination city where another truck will pick it up for delivery. Thus, the long-distance economies of rail can be combined with the flexibility of trucks to offer the shipper optimal service.

However, an intermodal transportation system is only as good as the links that facilitates the transfer of goods between modes. For example, the rail connection into and out of the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach was, up until last year, a single line in extremely poor condition. Cargo was frequently delayed due to trains being backed up waiting to enter or exit the port. The opening of the Alameda Corridor now provides a dedicated double rail line from the port to a sorting yard in central Los Angeles and has virtually eliminated cargo delays due to rail service. There are even efforts underway to coordinate air movement of freight with other modes of transport. Socalled "transparks" such as those proposed in Paris, Thailand, and eastern North Carolina, call for a manufacturing complex structured around runways capable of handling wide-body freight aircraft. Rail and highways would also serve this facility, so that raw materials could move smoothly into the plants located there, and finished goods shipped out.

Another interesting aspect of intermodal transportation involves the movement of people. Again, the big problem is the linkage between modes. For most of us, that linkage involves parking our cars as close to the terminal as possible. But finding smooth connections between air travel and onward transport is quite often a problem. Airports such as Schiphol, Frankfurt, and Reagan have convenient rail connections inside or immediately adjacent to the terminal. Others, such as San Francisco, have virtually no readily-accessible, inexpensive way to reach the city. Thus, Americans continue to rely on their cars as their primary form of transportation, much to the detriment of the environment and the world's supply of petroleum.

It should be a national priority to further the development of intermodal transportation of both people and goods. The best way to do that is to make the transition from one mode to the other as smooth and effortless as possible so that customers will use the mode that best meets their needs. As noted earlier, trucks offer flexibility and speed over relatively short distances but are less efficient over longer routes, while rail is best at moving large amounts of freight long distances but less effective on short trips. Thus, a smooth transition between the two would encourage the use of both to achieve the most efficient total move for the customer and society as a whole. Similarly, providing direct rail and/or bus connections from airports to surrounding areas would make driving one's personal vehicle and parking less attractive. And from the DoD's point of view, anything that speeds up the movement of troops and equipment to wherever they might be needed is a good thing as well.