Studies show Jax-NJ Mail Rail Service saves

[spuwho]

Paraphrase from Trains:

The USPS Inspector General recently reviewed the shipping contracts of all postal mail throughout the US and found that the agency could save $10.8 million by shipping mail by train instead of by truck. However, the USPS Director of Audit Operations disputes the report saying that rail service can't meet all of the service mandates.

However, when reconciling their positions, out of the 41 mail routes reviewed, they only agreed to one route where the savings was justified.

Between the New Jersey Operations Center and Jacksonville, Florida.

The route recommendation is now being sent to the Inspector General's office for further analysis. If all of the logistics with the railroads work out, then USPS will proceed with issuing contracts for the route.

Shortly after look for more mail express trains coming into town.

[urbanlibertarian]

Maybe they could have rail cars with mail sorting machines so they could sort the mail while it is in transit like they used to manually back in the day.

[spuwho]

Maybe they could have rail cars with mail sorting machines so they could sort the mail while it is in transit like they used to manually back in the day.

Good point. I was thinking the exact same thing. USPS prefers to bulk sort in their large fixed sorting facilities nationally before dispatching it via truck to its destination.

What if they were able to develop a unit train just for mail sorting?

That way when the train arrives, it has already been broken down by the local delivery zones and simply needs transfer to the local PO for delivery.

USPS may already do this before they load it in the truck in NJ.

Reading the article, the biggest issue USPS has with rail is excessive drayage of the cars.  UPS and FedEx pay premiums to get their piggybacks expressed. USPS may not have that kind of latitude.

If anything the USPS research shows that rail service between Jax and NJ is consistent enough to support it as an option. That is alot of trucks off I-95