Why are train car wheels transported by semi truck?

Question

Virtually every forgery in the United States has train tracks connected to them because the quantity and weight of the raw materials used can only be shipped in economically by train or ship.  Every facility that makes train cars has to have tracks also, since when the car is built, it needs to roll out of the yard.  But every time I drive across state lines, I frequently see new train car wheels and axles loaded on a flat bed trailer being hauled down the highway, which costs way more than shipping them on a train car to the rail yard where the new cars are being built anyway.  Does anyone know why they ship them on a truck?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

There are lots of wheels that are delivered by special rail cars but if a facility does not use many wheels and needs less than a rail car load it is easier to ship a small amount by truck.
Also there may not be enough rail cars available in some cases so if a shop is in dire need of wheels and there wont be an empty car available for a week, no choice but get the wheels there by truck, even though it may csot more.

Derail · Answer

Yup. It is determined by economics. The railroad I work for shares trackage rights with the Canadian Pacific (in the US). I see wheel/axle sets on CP flat cars all the time. Think about this too. Thousands of truck trailers are transported by rail every day as well.

The Chiel · Answer

As Rango says, its probably economics. One of the consequences of privatising our rail network in the 1990s is that it is quite common to use road transport. The Train Operating Company that I worked for operates a fleet of 3-car diesel mutiple-units. When they were due for overhaul at the workshops in Derby - over a hundred miles away - it was actually cheaper to take them there on a road low-loader - one vehicle a night - than pay Railtrack (as it was then) to haul the complete unit by rail!

JetDoc · Answer

Delivery by truck is probably faster and more direct than shipping by rail, but I've seen them loaded on railroad flat cars too.

doubleday · Answer

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Why are train car wheels transported by semi truck?

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