Trucking, Railroads Struggle to Keep Up With Cargo Surge

rucking and railroads, once bitter rivals, now find themselves working to keep up with surging freight volume by improving the flow of freight through the nation’s ports and rail terminals.

Limits on funding and differences in priorities between trucking and railroads, however, are blocking rapid progress in unclogging key intermodal connectors, transportation experts said.

“Long term, we have big challenges,” said Gary Maring, a partner with the consulting firm Cambridge Systematics and former head of the Office of Freight Management and Operations at the Federal Highway Administration. “We definitely are seeing bottlenecks emerge in the system — especially where rail intermodal and interstate highways come together.”