TTX Company (formerly TrailerTrain) is a provider of railcars and related freight car management services to the North American rail industry. TTX's pool of railcars – over 165,000 cars and intermodal
wells – supports shippers in the
intermodal,
automotive,
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...
&
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
,
metal
A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...
s,
machine
A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecul ...
ry,
wind energy and other markets where
flatcar
A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...
s,
boxcar
A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
s and
gondolas are required.
Owned by several large North American railroads, TTX's pools allow members to share capacity to reduce costs and risk.
History
TTX was founded in 1955 by the
Norfolk & Western Railway,
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
, and Rail-Trailer Corporation. Pennsylvania Railroad employees - 6,000 in total - entered possible names in a drawing for the new company, and the name "Trailer Train" won.
TrailerTrain's original goals were to standardize
TOFC
Trailer on flatcar, also known as TOFC or piggyback, is the practice of carrying semi-trailers on railroad flatcars. TOFC allows for shippers to move truckloads long distances more cheaply than can be done by having each trailer towed by a truck, s ...
railcar practices, foster the growth of transportation, provide its members with the best available equipment at the lowest cost, and keep its members abreast of new developments. In 1991, the company changed its company name from TrailerTrain to TTX.
TTX operates under pooling authority granted by the
Surface Transportation Board
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Interstat ...
. The flatcar pool was first approved in 1974 and then reauthorized in 1989, 1994, 2004, and most recently on October 1, 2014, for a 15-year term.
Fleet
TTX's railcar fleet consists of
flatcar
A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...
s,
autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...
s,
boxcar
A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
s and
gondolas. Half of the fleet is dedicated to flatcars and
intermodal wells, with a quarter dedicated to auto racks for hauling finished vehicles. The remaining quarter of the pool includes boxcars, gondolas, and specialized flatcars to carry various general merchandise commodities. TTX provides standardized car types and re-purposes idle assets to serve a dynamic marketplace.
The fleet is maintained through a network of independent repair facilities, TTX-owned Field Maintenance Operations (FMOs) located at intermodal terminals throughout North America, and TTX-owned heavy repair shops located in:
*
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...
*
North Augusta,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
*
Waterford Township, Michigan
*
Mira Loma,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
Ownership
TTX is privately owned by
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
's railroads and is the industry's railcar cooperative. The major railroads listed below all own shares of the company, with a voting member from each railroad making up the TTX Board of Directors.
Railroad Ownership
TTX
* Burlington Northern Santa Fe
*Canadian National
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN ...
*Canadian Pacific
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
*CSX Corporation
CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger ...
*Ferromex
Ferromex (syllabic abbreviation of Ferrocarril Mexicano or "Mexican Railway") is a private rail consortium that operates the largest (by mileage) railway in Mexico with combined mileage (Ferromex + Ferrosur) of and is part of the North American ...
*Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Loui ...
*Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
* Pan Am Railways
*Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
Logo
Between 1991 and 2008, the company used a yellow and black logo with speed lines connecting the two T's and an X.
In March 2008, the company released a new logo, colored Tuscan red
Tuscan red is a shade of red that was used on some railroad cars, particularly passenger cars.
The color is most closely associated with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which used it on passenger cars and on its TrucTrain flatcars. It also was used ...
, in honor of one of the founding railroads, the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ttx Company
BNSF Railway
Canadian National Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
CSX Transportation
Kansas City Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
Pan Am Railways
Privately held companies based in Illinois
Rolling stock leasing companies
Rolling stock manufacturers of the United States
Transport companies established in 1955
Union Pacific Railroad
1955 establishments in Pennsylvania