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September 8, 1999 11:58 AM, EDT

United Parcel Service, the nation’s largest trucking company and the biggest railroad customer in the country, has pulled more of its freight off the former Conrail lines in the East that are now operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads, saying they again are experiencing unacceptable delays.

UPS spokesman Norman Black said on Aug. 27 that the parcel carrier was pulling at least 40% of its freight traffic off of the two railroads and turning to trucks.

It was almost an exact replay of an announcement made June 16, (6-21, p. 1) following the June 1 “split day,” when the two railroads took over and divided Conrail, which had been the dominant rail freight provider in the Northeast.

At that time, UPS, which spends more than $600 million a year to move packages over various railroads, diverted 50% of its intermodal traffic from the two railroads to the highways, citing train delays of up to 12 hours. Black said the current delays are running up to six hours.

“It is not going in the right direction,” he said.

Most of UPS’s rail traffic consists of highway trailers filled with packages that are carried on flat cars. UPS said its traffic had been returning to the two Eastern railroads as their performance improved.

For the full story, see the Sept. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.