(Source: Defense News, April 3, 2013)
WASHINGTON — For more than 100 years, the U.S. military has used the expansive American railroad network to move heavy tanks, trucks and even rocket engines between military bases.
During times of war, these mammoth military trains carry this equipment — often too large for roadways — to coastal ports, where the goods are loaded on cargo freighters and shipped overseas.
Problem is, many of the commercially owned flat rail cars that compose the military trains are so old they face mandatory retirement. Now, Defense Department officials are working to determine how it will meet rail transportation needs.
Full story: Defense News