Rail Chain-Tiedown Flatcar Support

The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), the Army component of USTRANSCOM, is responsible to arrange for the movement of military vehicles by rail. The movement of military vehicles by rail in contingency operations may exceed the total deck space of the flatcars which would normally be in military and commercial chain tie-down service in America between 2015 and 2030. USTRANSCOM would like to maintain the current combined capability represented by over 5,000 chain tie-down flatcars. The military owns about 1,350 chain tie-down flatcars and a fleet of about 2,500 free-running commercial chain tie-down flatcars is forecast for the future. USTRANSCOM requires an additional 60,000 linear feet of flatcar capacity to be available to rapidly respond to military needs. This flatcar capacity would be required only to support wartime deployment. Flatcars envisioned for use in this program would be capable of remaining in unrestricted interchange service, and meeting all Association of American Railroads (AAR) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rules for such service.