On line marketing degree

In a well-known TV commercial, tennis star Andre Agassi proclaimed that "image is everything." Like it or not, there is some truth to that assertion, and in today's transportation world, image is a problem for short lines.

Here is the picture that all too many have: We are small operators running a handful of cars over secondhand track for very short distances. We chug along in locomotives that are the hand-me-downs of our Class I big brothers in areas of the country that are too insignificant for them to bother. They are moving unit trains from coast to coast while we move carloads from county to county. They are the behemoths and we are the little engine that could.

In short, people think the little engine is cute and they cheer fur him to get over the hill, but they buy their transportation from the big boys.

Our image is trailing behind reality. That's good news, but the flip side is that we need to do a better job telling our story. Consider these recent examples of short lines that are beginning to land some big pieces of business from some big companies:

* Daimler-Chrysler has selected a site on the Georgia Central Railway for a new $800 million assembly plant. The plant is being built on a 1,600 acre site and will be the first auto assembly plant built on a short line in the U.S. GCR is building a 1.5-mile line to the facility as well as constructing the load out terminal. Outbound vehicles will he loaded in modified auto racks; initial annual traffic is estimated at 13,000 carloads.

* Guardian Glass Industries made a $125 million investment in a new state of the art facility on the Finger Lakes Railroad in upstate New York. It is the largest new manufacturing project in New York in the last 20 years, mad Guardian has expanded its product line since the plant opened in 1999. FLR put up $200,000 in land and construction costs and built into the plant site. In 2002 FLR shipped over 2,000 carloads of inbound raw material. Guardian enjoys the competition provided by FLR's connection to CSX and NS; FLR attributes the growth in traffic to the wider variety of suppliers made possible by the two connections.

* The Florida Central Railroad is about to begin service to one of the largest auto auction facilities in the country. Auction, located in the Orlando area, moves up to 7,000 automobiles a week. Previously, all of this truck. FCR obtained a $1.2 million Florida DOT grant to build approximately one mile of track into the facility. FCR will interchange railcars with CSX for national distribution to dealers. The market potential is approximately 25,000 railcars annually.

* AGP, the largest farm co-op in the country, is completing a new export facility on the Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad at the Port of Grays Harbor, Wash. This project is the first hulk grain handling facility built on the West Coast in over 20 years. PS&P marketed the concept as a way to solve a significant congestion problem AGP was having at a Class I-served facility. PS&P and the Port of Grays Harbor obtained a $2 million state grant to build a 110-car loop track. AGP is building the conveyor system that handles railcar to ship transfer. Beginning in November, PS&P will deliver and unload unit trains of soybean meal shipped from the Midwest. Initial volumes are estimated at 2,000 4,000 cars annually.

These companies did not make these kinds of investments lightly. What is most interesting and most promising is that all of the companies had some degree of apprehension about depending on short line railroad service. In the case of Daimler Chrysler and Guardian Glass, the short line competed directly with a Class I. In the case of AGP and the Florida Auto Auction, the companies replaced existing Class I or truck service with a short line. In each instance, the short lines worked aggressively with their state and local governments to market the service and fund the infrastructure.

Short line railroads continue to face significant challenges. We need to get our infrastructure in better shape. We need to find better ways to fit into a Class I business model that stresses scheduled service and longer trains. And we certainly need to be more aggressive telling the stories that will improve our image.

Andre Agassi may have hyped the idea that image is everything. But the reason his commercial worked so well was, when all was said and done, he could really play tennis. Short lines are proving they can really play the marketing game.

Richard F. Timmons is president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.