The Railgon Company, (

reporting marks A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...

GONX GNTX) established in 1979, owned

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

cars available for use by multiple railroads by placing the cars in a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

pool. Shipments in gondola cars and other rolling stock are often used to transport goods on more than one railroad before reaching the receiver. Under the regulations governing railway transport, individual railroads paid fees, called car hire, for the time and mileage to utilize other railroads’ railcars (whether loaded or empty) Car hire was designed to promote the rapid return of rolling stock, since delays equated to extra money spent. Because of the desire to reduce costs by minimizing car hire, non-owning railroads may have declined the practice of allowing cars to continue on past their initial destination to points further from the car's "home". This had the effect of decreasing efficiency on these lines, and Railgon (and Railbox) used this argument to promote use of their rolling stock. Railroad deregulation as part of the

Staggers Act The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 is a United States federal law that deregulated the American railroad industry to a significant extent, and it replaced the regulatory structure that had existed since the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Backgroun ...

reduced the need for this service, and the use of this cooperative arrangement consequently declined. As a result, today the Railgon pool is significantly smaller than at its peak. Railgon (and the similar

Railbox Railbox Company , founded in 1974, is a North American boxcar pooling company, and a subsidiary of the Chicago-based TTX Company. It was created to address a boxcar shortage in the United States in the 1970s. The concept behind Railbox, as ev ...

Company) are currently

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...

TTX Company TTX Company (formerly TrailerTrain) is a provider of railcars and related freight car management services to the North American rail industry. TTX's pool of railcars – over 165,000 cars and intermodal wells – supports shippers in the interm ...

, formerly the Trailer Train Company, which is owned by multiple railroads and leases cars to them. There are currently 1188 cars in the Railgon fleet, compared with over 13,000

boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

s in the Railbox fleet.

References

Rolling stock leasing companies Rail cooperatives {{US-rail-transport-stub