SHELL ROCK, Iowa — The new Butler Intermodal Terminal in Shell Rock will be the hub for an internationally focused intermodal service to be offered by Iowa Northern Railway, Union Pacific, Watco Cos., and logistics firm Valor Victoria. The service will launch in December. It is designed to provide an alternative to larger Midwest rail […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Nov. 16, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 501,249 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Nov. 16 were […]
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao today announced significant plans to advance highway-rail grade crossing safety this week. The announcement comes as the Federal Railroad Administration hosted a grade-crossing safety summit, with remarks from FRA Administrator Ron Batory, Acting Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Steve Bradbury, and Federal Highway Administration Deputy Administrator […]
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — The Trump Administration’s trade battle with China has gone too far and will do serious damage to the U.S. economy the longer tariffs remain in place, Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz says. About 40% of UP’s traffic originates or terminates outside the U.S., so trade […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern Railway has released details of the second phase of Precision Scheduled Railroading it is introducing to its Mexican subsidiary. With a planned Dec. 2 rollout for Phase Two, Kansas City Southern de Mexico will consolidate trains, move certain Laredo, Texas, terminal work to the Mexican side of the […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Canadian National is more focused on growing with its customers than railroads that are currently implementing Precision Scheduled Railroading, a shipper noted at an investor conference this week. How did CN transition from an emphasis on profit margins, he asked, to one of growth? “We are, as you say, the pioneers of […]
Jim Foote, CSX Corp. CEO CSX Corp. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dramatic improvements in service reliability will enable CSX Transportation to grow faster than the overall economy over the long term, CEO Jim Foote told an investor conference this week. That would be an accomplishment: Since 2011, CSX’s overall traffic volume has been flat while the […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Nov. 9, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 515,269 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.9% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Nov. 9 were […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Canadian National continues to cut costs in the face of rapidly weakening freight demand across virtually all types of traffic. On a revenue ton mile basis, CN’s volume has slumped 12% to 13% over the past two weeks amid a traffic downturn that is affecting the entire rail industry, Janet Drysdale, vice […]
LOS ANGELES — Competition from other ports, U.S. trade policies, and local dray moves are causing intermodal traffic declines that undercut the financial stability of the multi-track Alameda Corridor serving the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Opened in 2002, the Alameda Corridor routes Union Pacific and BNSF Railway trains away from the ports […]
EVANSTON, Ill. — The Surface Transportation Board, which regulates the nation’s rail industry, ought to make competition among the railroads its “guiding light,” according to one of the board’s newest members, who also believes shippers “have very little bargaining power” with freight haulers. And while Class I railroads easily garner the nation’s attention, the importance […]
St. Croix Valley No. 1363 works at the Titan Lansing sand plant in North Branch, Minn., on Oct. 8, 2019. Steve Glischinski CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Take a look along railroad lines in western Wisconsin, and you’ll find evidence of the frac sand boom that’s meant good times for railroads. BNSF Railway serves a plant […]
