Amazon has begun soliciting business from shippers interested in using space in the company’s fleet of 53-foot intermodal containers. The move, touted in a YouTube video posted this month, puts Amazon in direct competition with intermodal providers such as J.B. Hunt, Hub Group, and the intermodal marketing companies that fill rail-owned containers. “With intermodal for […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s second quarter profits and revenue rose despite service problems that prompted the railroad to meter traffic, a move that helped keep the network fluid but came at the expense of lost volume. “We understood that the actions we took to improve fluidity would impact our financial performance,” CEO Lance Fritz […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is increasing conductor trainee pay to $25 per hour, with a minimum of $200 in earnings per shift, the railroad has announced. Trainees will also be eligible for an on-the-job training incentive of $300 per biweekly pay period, provided they make themselves available to work. “We are committed to ensuring our […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s second-quarter earnings improved despite ongoing crew shortages that have snarled operations and forced the railroad to turn away traffic. At the current pace of hiring and training new conductors, CSX expects to hit the magic number of 7,000 active train and engine crews by the end of September, which will […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — With car velocity dropping and inventory climbing earlier this year, Union Pacific engaged in some “difficult conversations” with customers, Eric Gehringer says. The railroad’s executive vice president of operations is well aware for whom they were more difficult. “We had to go to our customers — some customers, not all customers […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday denied a California poultry and feed producer’s request for an extension of an emergency service order covering Union Pacific grain trains. Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, last week sought a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. Thousands […]
BRANDON, Manitoba – Alberta’s provincial pension fund will acquire Cando Rail & Terminals from a Canadian private equity firm. Cando, which operates more than 40 industrial switching facilities, nine owned terminals, and one short line, experienced rapid growth while under the control of TorQuest Partners. The deal, announced today (July 20), is the latest in […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s exclusive operating concession for its routes in Mexico have been extended by 10 years as part of an agreement with the Mexican government to invest in a new rail bypass route. The agreement with the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) extends the concession […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Some of the more detailed metrics the Surface Transportation Board has begun collecting as it tracks the rail industry’s service issues could become part of the STB’s regular regulatory oversight, board member Patrick Fuchs said Tuesday. “I do think that some of the service numbers that we have collected are extraordinarily […]
WASHINGTON — Pressure to reduce terminal dwell figures has prompted some Union Pacific yards to routinely depart trains that include misrouted cars simply to get them moving, a UP engineer alleges in a letter sent to federal regulators. Michael Lindsey, a veteran engineer based in Pocatello, Idaho, used a train he ran to Nampa, Idaho, […]
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific has been delivering unit grain trains as scheduled to a major California poultry and feed producer since federal regulators issued an emergency service order last month. But Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, is seeking a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — It just may be that CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote is a bit weary of hearing about the evils of Precision Scheduled Railroading. In his customary blunt style, Foote gave that impression Tuesday when speaking to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers about ongoing service issues for his railroad and the […]
