PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Forklift operators off-load railway cars of fresh produce at Railex in the Rotterdam Industrial Complex last week.
Cold train to freshness Railex transports produce efficiently from state of Washington to Rotterdam hub — and from there to parts of eastern seaboard BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Paul Esposito can count on one hand the number of times his Railex trains have been late. Each produce shipment is supposed to make the trip from Wallula, Wash., to Rotterdam in 124 hours or less. And since the launch of the service nearly a year ago, the train has been tardy only three times. The first tardy train showed up several hours late during the New Year’s Eve holiday. Three months later, another train was waylaid by a fiery 28-car train derailment that caused the evacuation of several hundred people near the city of Oneida. The third instance occurred last month, after massive flooding left many of the Midwestern states in turmoil. In each instance, the trains arrived at the Rotterdam Industrial Park less than 10 hours behind schedule, according to the company’s senior vice president. “Which is pretty amazing,” he said, perusing a chart on the shipments. Once a week, the company hauls produce such as potatoes, onions and apples from Washington to Rotterdam, where it is then routed by truck to purveyors across the Eastern seaboard. Established in October, Railex now serves nearly every regional food purveyor, including Golub’s Price Chopper, Sysco Foods, U.S. Food Services, Stop N’ Shop and Walmart, to name a few. Normally, Railex shipments arrive more than a day early, having sometimes made the cross-country trip in under 100 hours. It’s a hallmark of the operation, arriving ahead of schedule with shipments that are kept nearly as fresh as the day they left the Pacific Northwest. RAPID, EFFICIENT Esposito said the express line across the nation also conserves fuel by reducing the number of tractor-trailers that would otherwise add to congestion on the nation’s highways. With each train representing about 200 truckloads of produce, he estimated the company will save roughly 5.2 million gallons of diesel fuel within its first year of operation. “This is the most efficient and really the green way of moving produce across the country,” he said. Esposito discusses Railex in the same rapid-fire pace it operates: quickly, from point to point and with no time wasted. The business itself is based largely on the concept of eliminating the inefficiencies that have plagued rail transportation for years. Ordinarily, boxcars and refrigerated cars aren’t moved directly from coast to coast. Often, cars are unhitched and can sit for days in a switching yards while waiting to monitor shipments online while the train is in transit. The 55 refrigerated boxcars comprising the train are never disconnected, ensuring their payload is minimally jostled for a connection to a train moving closer toward the intended destination. Produce can often take more than two weeks to get across the country with conventional freight services. As a result, some products can arrive in unappetizing condition and with an expiring shelf life. Railex was the idea of Andy Pollak, the chief executive offi cer of Ampco Distribution Services, a Long Island-based produce distribution company. Pollak envisioned a streamlined trip that would cut out the waiting and guarantee shipments within five days. “He knew he could whittle down the transit time,” Esposito said. The company secured agreements with Canadian Pacifi c and CSX Transportation, allowing it to direct passage to the east. The 55-car Railex trains stop only to refuel and switch crews along their 12-state journey. Each boxcar is climate-controlled and outfitted with a Global Positioning System transponder, which allows both Railex and its customers along the way. ARMY OF WORKERS Railex trains roll right through the distribution center in Rotterdam, where an army of workers swiftly removes thousands of tons of produce from 14-car segments at a time. Even the loading dock is climate-controlled, so that the produce never changes temperature as it’s removed from the boxcars. Trains arrive in the early hours of the morning and are often unloaded by the evening, with a turnaround of about 14 hours. There’s chaotic symphony of movement and a cacophony of sound while the trains are unloaded; dozens of forklifts sweep through the 250,000-squarefoot facility, whisking massive pallets of everything from potatoes to citrus fruit from one loading dock to the next. Despite the fast pace of the operation, it’s highly controlled. Each pallet of produce is tagged with a “license plate,” which workers can quickly scan and route to the appropriate truck bay. Once the boxcars are empty crews then focus on filling them with products headed back to the Washington facility. Since starting in October, Esposito said trains have brought everything from beer to orange juice to imported fruit back to the West Coast. “Anything that needs to go west,” he said. Railex came to Rotterdam as a result of a great amount of planning. The company had initially considered a hub in the northern New Jersey area, but found the railroad infrastructure was lacking. State Economic Development officials caught wind of the fledgling company and pitched Rotterdam as an area that might suit its needs. The Rotterdam Industrial Park had both the size and location to entice the company. With its proximity to east-west rail lines and location near interstates 87, 88 and 90, Esposito said the location was ideal. “This is what we consider the center of the Northeast,” he said. However, getting all the pieces in place was an amazing undertaking, explained Ray Gillen, the executive director of the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority. In the end, Metroplex, the state Department of Transportation and the Galesi Group, which owns the industrial park, were able to forge a location suitable for the $18 million facility in about eight months. “It was a real team effort,” he said. “Everyone was putting on the fullcourt press, telling these guys to come to Rotterdam.” HELPING COMMUNITY The result has been nearly 110 full- and part-time jobs coming to the county, a number expected to eventually grow to more than 300 as the company grows. Railex has also brought more than $200,000 in new town, county and school tax revenue within its first year of operation. But Railex hasn’t been entirely about business. The company has also strived to help the community and region as a whole. Shortly after the first produce train rolled into Rotterdam, Railex began donating thousands of pounds of fresh produce to the Northeast Regional Food Bank in Latham. The food comes from crates that have been slightly damaged or are deemed unusable but still edible; rather than discard it, Railex decided to donate it. Within the first two months of operation, the company gave more than 50,000 pounds of produce to the food bank. To date, they’ve supplied about 333,700 pounds, becoming one of the agency’s top donors. “We’ve had an excellent relationship with Railex,” said Associate Director Joanne Dwyer. “They helped us both with food donations and financial donations and have been very supportive of us.” Railex may also offer future opportunities for local growers in New York, many of whom were initially cool to the idea of a produce mainline running from the West Coast. Now that the company is established, many farmers are now considering ways they can use it to reach markets that would otherwise be out of range, said Ray Eckhardt, president of the state Vegetable Growers Association. “Many of the forward-thinking growers are saying, ‘OK it’s here, it’s working, now how can I fit in,’ ” said Eckhardt, who operates Kinderhook Creek Farm in Stephentown. Already, local farmers have capitalized on trucks leaving the Railex terminus and destined for markets across the Northeast. Trucks leaving the facility are sometimes not filled to capacity and can accommodate some additional cargo. Local growers are also trying to establish a type of contact base within the Railex facility, where they could coordinate the availability of local produce with shipments leaving Railex and demand abroad. Though such cooperation is still in the discussion phase, Eckhardt said it is a real possibility. “As they get more experience in what they’re doing, we’ll be able to figure out better how we fit in,” he said. The companies Railex serves are also looking toward to the future of the service. With Railex expected to markedly expand within the next 18 months, the diversity of the product they bring to the Northeast is also expected to multiply, said Neil Golub, chief executive officer of Price Chopper parent Golub Corp. and a proponent of Railex from its inception. Golub said opening up a line between Rotterdam and California would help temper the cost of lettuce and other leafy items, which sometimes cost more to haul than to produce. He said an operation like Railex should be able to haul these items for much less than conventional transportation. “Once they open up California, that’s where the tonnage is,” he said. “When they do, our business with them is probably going to multiply by a lot.” Workers at Railex at the Rotterdam Industrial Park sort fresh potatoes for packaging.
I just finished going to their website and asking what jobs they currently have open, or if there's a place on the website for them. I'll let everybody know if I hear anything back.
I hear that the place is eeemmmmacccculate! You could eat off their floors. It's good jobs for Rotterdam.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I also heard that they are going to expand their facility and hiring more employees. That is a plus for this area for sure!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Railex to add second produce train Tuesday, January 29, 2008 By Justin Mason (Contact) Gazette Reporter Forklift operators offload 55 railway cars of fresh produce at Railex in the Rotterdam Industrial Complex back in August.
ROTTERDAM — Railex will add a second train service next month to transport produce between Rotterdam and Wallula, Wash. Company officials said customer demand and the overwhelming success of the first five-day train service established last year is the reason for the additional train. The second weekly train will leave for Rotterdam starting Feb. 9, according to Railex. Since October 2006, the company has hauled produce such as potatoes, onions and apples from Washington to Rotterdam, where it is then routed by truck to purveyors along the eastern seaboard. Railex now serves nearly every regional food purveyor, including Golub Co.’s Price Chopper supermarket chain, Sysco Foods, U.S. Food Services, Stop N’ Shop and Wal-Mart. The 55-car Railex trains typically make the 12-state journey in 124 hours or less. Each boxcar is climate-controlled and outfitted with a global positioning system transponder, which allows both Railex and its customers to track shipments along the way.
Thanks for coming in and reading, Justin. Notice, I posted this 3 days before you got around to it. Maybe it was my posting that got this in the news???
The gazette seems to always be behind. The TU was the first to print the highest salaries in Schenectady. Well, it was actually their on-line version that printed it. So Justin either got it from Kevin's post or he waited until Railex called him.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Railex stays on track for expanded service Rotterdam distribution center to see more West Coast train traffic
By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor First published: Friday, May 30, 2008
ROTTERDAM -- Railex LLC expects to triple train traffic into its Rotterdam distribution center this fall as it launches a new service from California and adds a second train on its route from Washington state. The 19-month-old service provides one refrigerated unit train per week each way. The trains, initially 55 cars, have been making the cross-country trip in five days or less, carrying vegetables, fruit and other perishables.
The company estimates each train carries the equivalent of 220 tractor-trailers and saves 5.2 million gallons of diesel fuel a year. At $5 a gallon for diesel, that gives the company a cost advantage. "We are more efficient (in) diesel fuel consumption," said Paul Esposito, vice president of sales and logistics for Railex. The company is building a distribution center in Delano, Calif., its third one, which will be completed in September. Existing centers are in Rotterdam and in Wallula, Wash. Railex employs 150 workers in Rotterdam. Plans for a second train from Washington state were delayed this spring after a Jan. 19 landslide in Oregon blocked the main route the trains take. That route has been reopened, and Esposito said the second train likely will begin operating "sometime in late summer." In the meantime, the original train has been lengthened, to 60 or more boxcars, he said. The "unit trains," as they're called, can be tracked by satellite as they move across the country. Customers also can monitor temperatures inside each of the cars as the trains move between Wallula and Rotterdam. Union Pacific Railroad and CSX Transportation jointly operate the trains, which stop only for crew changes and refueling. Railex has been seeking cargo for the return trip to the West Coast. Tropicana products have been brought north from Florida by train, trucked to Rotterdam, and then taken to Washington by Railex for distribution in western Canada, Esposito said. The trains may be used this fall to ship New York state apples to Washington state processing plants, where they would be converted to juice and applesauce, state apple industry officials have said. In an era of increasing shipping costs, "it's the way long-haul produce should move through the country," Esposito said.
The company estimates each train carries the equivalent of 220 tractor-trailers and saves 5.2 million gallons of diesel fuel a year. At $5 a gallon for diesel, that gives the company a cost advantage.
That's a $26,000,000 ($26 MILLION) savings in fuel costs
Has anyone noticed a corresponding drop in produce prices at the consumer level? I sure haven't.
The prices will NEVER come back down to what they use to be. They never do. But I am glad to hear that Railex is expanding and doing well. We need that for sure.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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