Transportation Improvement Needed Now

Transportation Improvement Needed Now

United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) provides strategic mobility to our nation. No other government, commercial, or private agency can move as much to as many places as quickly. The spirit and flexibility of the people who make up the Total Force USTRANSCOM team put the command on the world’s stage. The past two years have been among the most challenging in USTRANSCOM’s history. The simultaneous drawdown of 80,000 troops in Iraq, the surge of forces into Afghanistan, Haitian earthquake-relief operations, and the Pakistani flood-relief effort confronted us in 2010. 1 The year 2011 has proved no less dramatic. The “Arab Spring” began in Tunisia and quickly spread to Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen. USTRANSCOM supported each situation, evacuating innocents, moving security forces, and delivering humanitarian-relief supplies. In Libya the command moved forces and offered around-the-clock air-refueling tanker capability for North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces while also supporting the president’s travels in Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador. Then, the fourth most powerful earthquake since 1900 struck off the east coast of Japan, lasting over six minutes, literally knocking the earth off its axis, and shortening the length of a day. 2 Worse, the tsunami that followed devastated Japanese coastal areas, caused a nuclear meltdown, and even damaged property in California. USTRANSCOM’s emergency airlift and airrefueling support not only evacuated over 7,500 people and 400 pets but also made available crucial transport of nuclear expertise and material to help control the reactors at Fukushima. We did all of this in addition to supporting combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. In March 2011, for the first time in USTRANSCOM history, the command supported simultaneous priority-one movements in all six geographic combatant commands—truly March madness! In the face of two unbelievably difficult years, I’m proud to say that USTRANSCOM, together with our components and commercial partners, never failed to fulfill our promises to the war fighter, the president, and our nation. Yet, even as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down, future challenges demand continued advances.

Rail Capacity Decreasing

Railway capacity is decreasing- DoD track purchase solves

Honea et al. 2k - PhD (Robert B., Sarah E. Brown, Henry M. Bennett, “U.S. Military Transportation,” Committee on Military Transportation, http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/millennium/00137.pdf)//mat

Current DoD policy is to transport personnel, equipment, and sustainment using commercial assets when practical and prudent. Even in contingency situations, commercial railroads, truck lines, ocean carriers, barge-towing industry, airlines, and bus companies play a critical role in projecting U.S. forces from CONUS and outside CONUS locations to the theater of operations. A major issue facing the commercial transportation industry and Military Transportation 3 DoD is the declining excess capacity of the system. Other issues include a shortage of seafarers and longshoremen in the ocean carrier industry. DoD responded to the airline industry problem by implementing the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) Program and to the commercial ocean-shipping problem with the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) program. A readily available fleet of militarily useful merchant vessels and motor and rail carriers is a critical element of the Defense Transportation System (DTS). VISA and CRAF provide DoD with staged access to and payment procedures for commercial shipping and intermodal assets in the event of war or national emergency. The Ready Reserve Force and the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Surge Sealift Fleet provide DoD with an organic ability to move most of its unit equipment that is too large to fit in commercial containers. Motor Carriers Although sufficient motor carrier resources appear to be available to support surface transport, the availability of drivers and an appropriate mix of specialized transport is a potential problem for DoD. Trucking competition and deregulation have forced motor carriers to become more efficient, thereby removing the excess capacity on which DoD has relied for surge requirements. DoD may be able to recapture some of the lost capability by purchasing organic specialized fleets. However, a better answer appears to be in partnering with commercial carriers and offering incentives to ensure needed capacity. Rail Carriers Railroads are a primary means of transportation during deployment because of security, flexibility, and high capacity. Since 1976, U.S. railway accessibility and capability have steadily declined. As a last resort to combat the capacity erosion, DoD can purchase and maintain critical track sections when commercial ownership is not viable. Shortline railroads, formed as the larger railroads centralized, are now critical to maintaining a feeder network to and from the main rail lines. Today, only a limited surplus of rolling stock is available to serve during defense emergencies. As a result, DoD has purchased a fleet of more than 2,000 railcars. Inland Waterway Carriers In recent years, various entities have examined the U.S. inland waterway system as a resource to transport military cargo. Continued application of technology to barge operations and integration of the inland waterway system into the nation’s intermodal system makes this an area ripe for additional development.

Transportation Infrastructure key to Crisis Response

DTS Infrastructure key to Power Projection

DTS infrastructure sustains DoD capabilities that are essential to power projection

USTC 11 [United States Transportation Command, August 18, 2011 (original: August 2007), “Defense Transportation Regulation Part VII”, http://www.transcom.mil/dtr/part-vii/dtr_part_vii_toc.pdf, DMintz]

The Defense Transportation System is that portion of the worldwide transportation infrastructure that supports Department of Defense (DOD) transportation needs in peace and war. The Defense Transportation System consists of two major elements: military (organic) and commercial resources. These resources include aircraft, assets, services, and systems organic to, contracted for, or controlled by the Department of Defense. The Defense Transportation System infrastructure, including ports, airlift, sealift, railway, highway, intransit visibility, information management systems, customs, and traffic management that the Department of Defense maintains and exercises in peacetime, is a vital element of the Department of Defense capability to project power worldwide. It provides for responsive force projection and a seamless transition between peacetime and wartime operations.

Directory: files
files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2
files -> Integer programming and game theory
files -> 4 Integer Programming
files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective
files -> Pop Warner History
files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose
files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d
files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal
files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations

Download 0.5 Mb.

Share with your friends: