Project: Assignment of Track Maintenance Costs to All Rail Users
of a State-Owned Rail Corridor
Client: Florida Department of Transportation
The Florida Department of Transportation owns and manages the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC), used by CSX freight trains, Tri-Rail commuter trains, and Amtrak. FDOT wanted to equitably divide the maintenance cost of the corridor between these three users.
In this analysis, ZETA-TECH applied its proprietary Weighted System Average Cost (WSAC) model to assign the track maintenance cost of the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC) to the Amtrak, Tri-Rail, and CSX trains using the corridor. Zeta-Tech’s WSAC methodology, which was accepted by the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1995, takes account of axle load, operating speed, and total tonnage of each traffic type, as well as the characteristics of railroad, in assigning costs. The results of ZETA-TECH’s WSAC analysis were used to renegotiate the respective CSX and Amtrak payments for access to the line.
As part of this work, ZETA-TECH also reviewed the operating contract for the corridor, and prepared a forecast of "normalized" track maintenance requirements.