Rail Transport questions

[bncwhite]

Anyone know details on train arrival/departures?

Do trains leave Cuautitlan daily, once a week on a specific day, or on random days?

Are the rail cars basic rectangle shipping containers or are they made specifically for vehicle transport?

How many days does it take to reach Kansas City from Cuautitlan?

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[oadesign]

Anyone know details on train arrival/departures?

Do trains leave Cuautitlan daily, once a week on a specific day, or on random days?

Are the rail cars basic rectangle shipping containers or are they made specifically for vehicle transport?

How many days does it take to reach Kansas City from Cuautitlan?

Mine was built on 10/15, shipped on 10/19, and arrived in KC on 11/01.

 

[RickMachE]

Why would it matter what train cars looked like?

Google... https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr081021-what-is-an-autorack-rail-car.htm

 

[bncwhite]

I was wondering about the rail car design because I also wondered if a train goes to KC, drops off the vehicles and returns to the factory with empty rail cars. While a train is making a run, does a local rail yard bring in more rail cars? Are there rail cars always on standby so they can run multiple trains without waiting for one to return?

 

[Bigfeets]

I've been studying up on Ford MME transport, while counting my days (day 52 of predicted 196-day wait). This is a brief visual tour.
Ford Mach e are assembled at Cuautitlan Plant ( and ) near Mexico City. Rail cars visible at very bottom of this Google Earth image.

(Loading cars onto railroad car carriers: , and CSX car carriers enroute ) The trains are operated by Kansas City Southern, crossing the US border at Loredo, to rail sorting yard Near Kansas City.

Argentine rail sorting yard near Muncie, Kansas.

From Kansas City, they are shipped by truck, CSX or Norfolk southern rail to the East and probably truck, BNSF or UP to the West. Other railroads may be involved with other destinations, such as Canada. I also don't know how MME units get from Mexico to Europe, other than ship out of Vera Cruz?

ps Kansas City Southern Railroad is being purchased by Canadian Pacific Railroad.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I was wondering about the rail car design because I also wondered if a train goes to KC, drops off the vehicles and returns to the factory with empty rail cars. While a train is making a run, does a local rail yard bring in more rail cars? Are there rail cars always on standby so they can run multiple trains without waiting for one to return?

The train cars used to transport automobiles are called Autoracks. They’re designed for car transport. There’s an ongoing shortage of these things that predates the pandemic by many years. There are some images of MMES being loaded at the factory on a couple of the early 2021 threads.

Kansas City Southern is the railroad hauling the cars. They also suffer from routine personnel shortages due to the pandemic. The actual rail classification for the route requires fairly low speeds as well. Average travel time between the plant siding and the depot in Kansas City is 10 days to 2 weeks. And weather can drag it out too.

As for how the railroad cars get back to the plant, there’s an entire section of the logistics industry that figures that stuff out. It’s mostly voodoo as near as I can tell.

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