Triple trailer trucks,or "road trains," began running between Saskatoon and Regina this year in a provincial government pilot program aimed at boosting transport efficiency.
The experiment allows truckers to hook a third 53-foot trailer to long-combination vehicles (LCVs) as part of a transportation partnership between government and industry to boost payloads while minimizing the impact on highways.
"We've always been looking to get longer and heavier," said Mike Burnett, director of logistics, central region, Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Infrastructure. "That's just the nature of what the program is about."
The pilot project, which has been in the works for a couple of years, is part of the province's attempt to become more competitive in the global marketplace, according to Burnett.
The LCVs push dovetails with the 2,000-acre Global Transportation Hub (GTH), located at the west end of Regina on the Canadian Pacific main line between Highway 1 and Highway 11. Currently, the project sees a single company from the GTH - Loblaw - running a triple road train from the hub to the outskirts of Saskatoon, where the third trailer is uncoupled and taken into the city by itself. Burnett says Loblaw was chosen because it's the "anchor client in the GTH, so it made sense for them to take the lead."
Andrew Cipywnyk, director of trucking policy and regulation, says that, as a part of the pilot project, "we're looking at things like the operation of the vehicle and the whole issue of whether it fits in Saskatchewan."
The road train run is made five days a week, weather permitting, with the train allowed to operate only between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. and at a maximum speed of 90 kilometres per hour. "We haven't really had any negative feedback," Burnett said. "Loblaw has certainly been very conscientious, making sure they err on the side of caution, and they've been a very good partner through this."
from Western Investor October 2012
