The sprawling California facility of Railex LLC, Schenectady, N.Y., sits on the southern fringe of Delano, more than 3,000 miles from the firm’s Rotterdam, N.Y. terminal.
It signals the first step in a new rail approach designed to put more fresh California fruits and vegetables in East Coast kitchens. Railex guarantees the weekly 55-car trains will make the cross-country trip in five days. The first few Delano departures have done better than promised.
“Deliveries in the East have been stellar. We’ve been running 22 hours ahead of schedule,” said Paul Esposito, vice president of sales for the northeast division and corporate logistics for Railex.
With the paint on the 225,000-square-foot complex barely dry, the 120-member staff assembled by general manager Gary Pena inspects, consolidates and loads the produce-laden pallets in veteran fashion. Many of them are farm workers with many years of fresh produce experience, he said.
“We hope to whittle down that time in Delano and to become not only accepted, but a method of transportation that a grower-shipper thinks about right away,” he said.
To make certain the cold chain is unbroken, temperature readings are taken from three locations in a load before the produce comes off the trucks, Pena said. From that point, every pallet is tracked via radio frequency identification devices, he said.
It signals the first step in a new rail approach designed to put more fresh California fruits and vegetables in East Coast kitchens. Railex guarantees the weekly 55-car trains will make the cross-country trip in five days. The first few Delano departures have done better than promised.
“Deliveries in the East have been stellar. We’ve been running 22 hours ahead of schedule,” said Paul Esposito, vice president of sales for the northeast division and corporate logistics for Railex.
With the paint on the 225,000-square-foot complex barely dry, the 120-member staff assembled by general manager Gary Pena inspects, consolidates and loads the produce-laden pallets in veteran fashion. Many of them are farm workers with many years of fresh produce experience, he said.
“We hope to whittle down that time in Delano and to become not only accepted, but a method of transportation that a grower-shipper thinks about right away,” he said.
To make certain the cold chain is unbroken, temperature readings are taken from three locations in a load before the produce comes off the trucks, Pena said. From that point, every pallet is tracked via radio frequency identification devices, he said.
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