TTX Company
Private | |
Industry | Freight car provider |
Founded | November 1955 |
Founders | Pennsylvania Railroad, Norfolk and Western and Rail-Trailer Corp. |
Headquarters | Chicago, United States |
Area served | North America |
Key people | Thomas F. Wells, President and CEO |
Website | http://www.ttx.com |
TTX Company (formerly Trailer Train) is a leading provider of railcars and related freight car management services to the North American rail industry. TTX’s pool of railcars – over 220,000 cars and intermodal wells – is ideal for supporting shippers in the intermodal, automotive, paper & forest, metals, machinery, wind energy and other markets where flatcars, boxcars and gondolas are required.
Owned by North America’s leading railroads, TTX’s free-running pools provide fungible assets that minimize total empty miles, further lowering costs and minimizing risk for the industry, helping the railroads conserve their capital for other critical infrastructure needs. Customers easily recognize TTX’s bright yellow cars as a consistent, high quality, well-maintained fleet that serves many transportation needs.
History
TTX was originally founded in 1955 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (predecessor to Conrail), the Norfolk and Western Railway (predecessor to Norfolk Southern), and Rail-Trailer Corporation. 6,000 Pennsylvania Railroad employees entered possib
le names in a drawing for the new company, and the name "Trailer Train" won.[1] Trailer Train's original goals were to standardize TOFC 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 Trailer Train to TTX.
Fleet
The TTX fleet consists of over 200,000 flatcars, double-stack cars, autoracks, boxcars, and gondolas.[2] TTX owns a large number of reporting marks, reflecting the wide variety of cars that it owns.
Ownership
TTX is privately owned by North America's railroads and functions as the industry’s railcar cooperative, operating under pooling authority granted by the Surface Transportation Board, the successor to the ICC. Given TTX’s ownership, they seek to maximize railcar efficiency and not margins. TTX’s members are free to pursue their own car supply strategies too – there is no obligation to use TTX equipment. Members are permitted to take cars OFF of car hire after a period of five days (called “turn back”); in effect, they only pay for the TTX cars when the cars are needed to move business.
Logo
Between 1991 and 2008, the company used a yellow and black logo.
In March 2008, the company released a new logo, colored Tuscan red in honor of one of the founding railroads, the Pennsylvania Railroad. The logo also contains the company's new slogan, "Forward Thinking."[2]
See also
- Autorack
- List of rolling stock manufacturers
- TOFC ("Trailer On Flat Car")
- Railbox Company
- Railgon Company
References
- ↑ Curtis D. Buford (1982). Trailer Train Company: A Unique Force in the Railroad Industry. Newcomen Society in North America. p. 13.
- 1 2 TTX (2008). "Hot News!". Railpace Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-08.