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BC Rail Ltd. soon might be out of the trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) business. The 1,446-mile regional Dec. 14 announced plans to discontinue the TOFC segment of its intermodal service Feb. 1.
BC Rail officials — citing a recent independent evaluation and analysis study — believe TOFC has become an uneconomical intermodal option with limited growth potential, and would require the railroad to invest $19 million over the next 10 years to sustain that service.
The discontinued TOFC service would affect BC Rail's North Vancouver, Prince George and Williams Lake, British Columbia, locations, as well as about 100 employees. Railroads officials are implementing "a comprehensive and equitable human resource strategy" for the affected workers, according to a prepared statement.
BC Rail is developing a new business model — which the railroad plans to implement by 2004 — to better deal with current economic restraints and market challenges.