Rail freight operators realise that competing with trucking companies is an uphill battle. The progressive ones, such as Rail Cargo Group (RCG), invest in equipment that allows a quick swap of the mode of transportation between trucks and wagons. On April 4th 2023, RCG announced the purchase of 300 curtain-sided swap bodies in RCG’s signatory red colours.
This type of equipment takes every advantage of a container with an additional possibility to be loaded from the back, any side, or even from above. Compared to the entire semitrailer being loaded onto trains, a big advantage of swap bodies is no “dead weight” of the road bogies in rail transport, as the swap body is detached from the wheels.
New swap bodies are 13 m (45ft) long and two and a half meters high. They can be used in a vast array of industries, yet their main focus will be on palletized goods, which were in the past transported by trucks: from food and beverage to steel to wood and paper.
RCG plans to put curtainsider swap bodies into operation in all segments of operation. They can be loaded directly on customers’ sidings but also delivered to the intermodal terminal closest to the customer. Trucks can then be utilised as the last-mile service for customers with no railway siding of their own.
