About TTX

About TTX

Since 1955, TTX has been a unique and creative provider to the rail industry. Throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, the signature yellow cars of TTX Company move along North America’s railroads carrying containers, trailers, automobiles, lumber, steel, paper and a long list of other goods and raw materials that consumers and companies rely on every day.

But, TTX is not a railroad. And, it is not a railcar leasing company.

What is TTX?

TTX is a railcar pooling company. Founded as Trailer Train in 1955 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the subsidiary invested in a new technology – flatcars that would haul highway trailers. More rail carriers soon bought stock as well, and in 1974 they proposed to establish the distribution principles under a “pooling agreement” approved by the federal Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).

Pooling means that railroads share the railcars bringing several benefits. First, railroads have the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions because the fleet is already established. Second, they do not have to waste resources switching out and returning empty railcars, eliminating supply chain inefficiencies. Third, the capital burden on railroads is reduced because TTX buys the cars, lowering operating costs, and reducing the industry’s risk. All of these help keep the railroads competitive to the benefit of the shipping public.
Our right-sized, low cost, reliable fleet of over 175,000 railcars serves North America’s railroads and the world’s freight needs. TTX helps railroads meet their customers’ needs by providing, tracking and maintaining railcars in an efficient, pooled environment, investing over $13 billion in additional railcars, since 2000.

THE RAILCAR EXPERTS ℠

175,000

Efficient and low cost railcars.

$800 Million

Spent on maintenance
annually.

$13 Billion

Invested in new
railcars since 2000.

 

TTX has a complete engineering and design team to care for its large and varied fleet with maintenance operations in terminals across the network. Keeping a fleet shared by different railroads in safe, operable condition requires a major commitment and investment – TTX spends over $800 million a year on railcar maintenance alone.

In addition to this vital role as a railcar pool operator, TTX invests in and operates sophisticated industry technology solutions. These solutions improve the quality and timeliness of financial and operating information for managing our business and that we share with our owners to help them manage theirs. Further, TTX is a recognized innovator in the technical design and engineering of railcar components.

Railroad Ownership

TTX is privately-owned by North America’s leading railroads and functions as the industry’s railcar cooperative, operating under pooling authority granted by the Surface Transportation Board the successor to the ICC. Given TTX’s ownership, we seek to maximize railcar efficiency and not margins; TTX is not about pulling profits from the industry but instead about delivering a right-sized, well-maintained fleet, with the lowest possible costs that serve the railroads’ customer’s needs. And, TTX’s members are free to pursue their own car supply strategies too – there is no obligation to use TTX equipment. Finally, the members are permitted to take cars OFF of car hire after a period of five days (called “turn back”); in effect, they only pay for the TTX cars when the cars are needed to move business.

Our right-sized, low cost, reliable fleet of over 175,000 railcars serves North America’s railroads and the world’s freight needs, from the largest Class I railroads to the smaller regional and short-line railroads alike. The TTX tagline “Next Load, Any Road” is a written reminder of TTX’s core mission; providing railcars that can be reloaded at destination reducing empty miles and saving the industry millions in operational costs each year. While TTX ownership is shared by the railroads displayed above, our railcars move freely amongst Class I railroads and hundreds of short-line and regional railroads to deliver freight to a wide variety of industries serving all of North America.