Glossary
Like any industry, the freight business has its own jargon. Likewise, certain technical terms were specifically defined for the MIS study. This glossary is provided to help you navigate the discussions on freight.
Amtrak: In 1971, the federal government initiated the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to operate the nation’s intercity passenger rail services. Today, Amtrak serves more than 21 million passengers and operates in 45 states.
Backhaul: Return transportation movement, usually at less revenue than the original move; to move a shipment back over part of a route already traveled.
Bogie: A set of highway wheels built specifically to be used as rear wheels under the container. Also an overseas term for a railroad car “truck” or wheel assembly.
Bored Tunnel: A construction method for constructing a tunnel. A tunnel-boring machine drills through rock and compacted soil to create a bored tunnel.
Boxcar: An enclosed railcar, typically 40 to 50 feet long, used for packaged freight and some bulk commodities.
Breakbulk: To reduce a large shipment of a single commodity to many small shipments, which are then dispersed to various buyers.
Bulk Transfer Facility: A facility for transferring liquid or solid bulk commodities, such as petroleum or gravel, between transport modes, typically between rail and truck. (See also “Transloading”).
Carfloat: A barge with a railtrack fixed to the deck for carrying rail cars across a body of water. Typically, the carfloat is towed by a tugboat.
Chassis: A special trailer or undercarriage on which containers are moved over the road by truck.
Choice Model: In the MIS, a model was developed to help predict the amount of freight that could be diverted to alternative modes of freight transportation. After conducting a quantitative survey of shippers and receivers, the Project Team developed a series of “demand curves” for each alternative mode of shipment. This demand depends on travel time, cost, reliability, commodity type, origin/destination and the current travel route. This was then compared to the service characteristics for the region to show by which mode freight would move.
Classification Yard: A railroad terminal area where train units are assembled (as opposed to an intermodal yard).
Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970: A United States law that created national air pollution standards. Under the regulations promulgated under the Clean Air Act, areas that do meet the clean air standards are classified as Non-Attainment Areas.
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990: These contain stringent and rigorously-defined legislative mandates for dealing with air quality and transportation issues in areas that have not attained the EPA-established national ambient air quality standards.
Commodity Flows: Data that describes the movement of goods. This information is used for transportation planning and decision-making.
C.O.F.C. (Container-on-Flatcar): The transport of containers on railroad flatcars, either single-stack or double-stack.
Container: A box for transporting cargo, constructed with varying dimensions to withstand shipment conditions in transportation. (See "TEU").
Diversion: Refers to a shift from one transportation mode to another. For example, diversion can refer to the shift from goods moving by truck to goods moving by rail.
Double-Stack: A type of train service that utilizes two intermodal containers stacked one on top of another. This service requires a vertical clearance of 20’-6”.
Drayage: Transporting freight by truck, typically for short distances.
East-of-Hudson Sub-Region: To be able to better analyze the movement of goods across the Hudson River, the MIS team divided the New York region into the West-of-Hudson sub-region and the East-of-Hudson sub-region. The East-of-Hudson sub-region is composed of the five boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island), Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, New York mainland downstate counties (Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess) and Fairfield County in Connecticut.
Float Bridge: A bridge for rolling rail cars on and off carfloats to a railyard.
Freight Forwarder: Individual/company that accepts shipments and consolidates them into truckloads. An agent who helps expedite shipments by preparing necessary documents and making other arrangements for moving freight.
Immersed-Tube Tunnel: A construction method for building a tunnel. This method involves laying pre-constructed tunnel sections in a deep trench dug in the bottom of the harbor.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS): A generic term for advanced technology applications that provide real-time monitoring and information to enable the more efficient and safer use of transportation systems, such as highways.
Intermodal: As broadly defined within the commercial transportation industry, the transfer of freight between and among all modes involved in general cargo transportation (e.g., ship, rail and truck). This term is also commonly used to mean the movement of passengers between transportation modes (e.g., from train to bus).
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA): The landmark federal transportation legislation that implemented broad changes in the way transportation planning and funding decisions are made. ISTEA and its successor, Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) of 1998, emphasize use of a diversity and balance of modes and the preservation of existing systems over the construction of new facilities, especially roadways.
Intermodal Yard: A rail facility designed to accommodate intermodal transfers with trucks and containers.
International Flows: As defined in the MIS, waterborne trips that have either an origin or destination in the region’s port.
Interregional Flows: As defined in the MIS, trips within North America that have either an origin or destination within the 30-county New York region.
Intra-regional Flows: As defined in the MIS, trips that have both an origin and destination within the New York/northern New Jersey region.
Just-in-Time Delivery (JIT): Refers to a growing practice of minimizing warehousing costs by delivering goods “just in time” for manufacturing, assembly or wholesale/retail replenishment. More broadly, it refers to the growing premium placed on reliability, transit time and efficiency by the shipping industry.
Level of Service: A measure of the quality of operation of a transportation facility, with Level of Service ”A” being very good operation with few traffic delays, and Level of Service “F” being severely congested operation with large traffic delays.
MIS: A Major Investment Study is a federal process for identifying, evaluating and selecting transportation alternatives that address specific problems.
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): As specified in TEA-21 and ISTEA, a MPO is a federally-mandated organization that is required to carry out the transportation planning process for urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000.
Modal Split: The relative use of the modes of transportation; the statistics used include ton-miles, passenger-miles and revenue.
Multimodal: Using more than one transportation mode to move a load of goods.
North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA): The MPO for the northern New Jersey metropolitan region. It is made up of two cities—Newark and Jersey City—and 13 counties: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC): A local development corporation under contract with the City of New York to perform economic development initiatives for the City. Specific to transportation, NYCEDC is responsible for planning improvements to the City’s rail freight and maritime infrastructure and establishing the City’s freight policies. These responsibilities were formerly under the New York City Department of Ports and Trade.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC): The MPO for the New York City metropolitan region. The region is made up of the City of New York and the counties of Nassau, Putnam, Suffolk, Rockland and Westchester.
New York & Atlantic Railway: The railroad that provides freight rail service between New York City and Long Island per a franchise agreement with the Long Island Rail Road.
Pallet: A platform on which cargo is loaded, which can be stacked and be handled by forklift or sling, usually constructed of wood.
Piggyback: The hauling of road vehicles and containers on wheels or railroad flatcars.
Railhead: End of the railroad line or point in the area of operations at which cargo is loaded and unloaded.
Reefer (refrigerated container): A specialized container that holds perishable goods at controlled temperatures.
Road Railer: A specialized truck chassis that either has retractable rail wheels or is lifted onto bogies that allow it to operate directly on rail.
Roll-on/Roll-off (ro/ro): A specially constructed ship that allows cargo to be rolled in and out doors on wheeled loading devices or under the cargo’s own propulsion, such as motor vehicles.
Selkirk Hurdle: A term given to the 280-mile detour necessary for a freight train to get from New Jersey to New York City. Selkirk is just south of Albany, New York, and is the closest freight rail bridge across the Hudson River.
Surface Transportation Board (STB): An independent adjudicatory body housed within the U.S. Department of Transportation. STB is responsible for the regulation of interstate surface transportation, primarily railroads.
Third-party Logistics Provider: An intermediary who manages the transportation or arranges the logistics for the movement of goods.
Through Flows: As defined in the MIS, trips that have neither an origin or destination within the region but are simply passing through the region.
TEU: Twenty-foot equivalent unit. A standard unit for counting containers of various lengths. One standard 40-foot container equals two TEU’s.
T.O.F.C. (Trailer-on-Flatcar): A transportation arrangement in which a truck trailer is moved by train to a destination. Also called “Piggybacking."
Trailer: The truck unit that carries freight in a tractor-trailer combination. Trailers are commonly seen as the cargo unit of an “18-wheeler” or five-axle “truck."
Transportation System Management (TSM): A term for methods to improve the operation of a transportation system without expanding capacity.
Transloading: The practice of breaking (transferring) bulk shipments from the vehicle/container of one mode to that of another, at one or a series of terminal interchange points.
West-of-Hudson Sub-Region: To be able to better analyze the movement of goods across the Hudson River, the MIS team divided the New York region into the West-of-Hudson sub-region and the East-of-Hudson sub-region. The West-of-Hudson sub-region is composed of the following counties in northern New Jersey and south-western New York: Ocean, Monmouth, Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, Hunterdon, Warren, Morris, Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, Pike, Sullivan, Ulster, Orange and Rockland. |
