@article{Casavant:208221,
      recid = {208221},
      author = {Casavant, Ken and Jessup, Eric},
      title = {What Makes them Viable? Determining the Attributes that  Offer Potential Viability to Inter-Modal Truck-Rail  Facilities in Washington State},
      address = {2005-03},
      number = {1426-2016-118444},
      pages = {20},
      year = {2005},
      abstract = {Efficient freight mobility is the result of successfully  balancing the demand for transportation
capacity and  service with the quantity supplied of those services and  capacities. A growing
number of communities and economic  interests in the state of Washington recognized  that
efficient freight movement is directly associated with  the health of their local and regional
economies. As a  result, state and local governments are being asked to  improve freight mobility
through operational improvements  and new public infrastructure. Inter-modal truck-rail  facilities,
where goods are transferred from truck to rail  or vice-versa, for shipment to domestic markets or
through  gateways to international markets, are offered, or sought,  as a means of improving the
freight movement in the  area.
Proposed public investment in such inter-modal  facilities raises at least two questions: Will the
facility  succeed in the private market place by generating a  sustaining return as a commercial
investment? And, is any  public investment justified based on the public benefits  involved? It is
the combination of internal efficiencies  and external competition that will affect the  economic
viability of the inter-modal facility itself. A  great deal of information and analysis is needed  to
identify these necessary attributes and those operating  characteristics that “would or could”
produce private  economic viability and, if necessary, a requited rate of  return on public
investment.
This paper reports on the  development of an applied methodology for determining the  potential
economic viability of inter-modal truck-rail  facilities in Washington State. The focus is on
discerning  the attributes, characteristics or market situations that  are associated with successful
projects, thereby suggesting  a framework for economic feasibility analysis, from both  the public
and private view, of an inter-modal truck-rail  facility.
A conceptual approach and general model of  investigation is first developed in the paper. A
focused  review of literature followed by a summary of actual and  active inter-modal centers
allows the development of a  series of case studies/models, chosen as examples of  facilities
performing differing functions in the overall  supply chain for exports and imports. These are
then  combined with a list of attributes that are useful, even  critical, to viability, allowing
prioritization of the  attributes for each type of case study. This then leads to  the conclusions
and implications of the paper.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/208221},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.208221},
}