Jim Foote, CSX Transportation CEO CSX Corp. NEW YORK — When Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel said in October that the spread of Precision Scheduled Railroading made Class I consolidation more likely, it stirred the pot of merger speculation. So it was no surprise last week that Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz and CSX Transportation […]
NEW YORK — If you want to see the beginning of Norfolk Southern’s move toward an operating plan based on the principles of Precision Scheduled Railroading, look no further than train 23G. A few times a week, the international intermodal train linking St. Louis; Louisville, Ky.; and Norfolk, Va.; pauses in Knoxville, Tenn., to pick […]
Union Pacific Union Pacific NEW YORK — Union Pacific remains about a month ahead of schedule with the rollout of its new operating plan and now expects systemwide implementation by the middle of 2019, months earlier than originally envisioned. The railroad has completed the introduction of Unified Plan 2020 on its Mid-America Corridor linking the […]
NEW YORK — Union Pacific, which is bucking the Precision Scheduled Railroading trend of idling the humps at classification yards, still needs the new hump yard it’s building in Hearne, Texas, CEO Lance Fritz says. The late CEO E. Hunter Harrison converted several hump yards to flat-switching facilities at Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and CSX […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has defended penalties it plans to impose on shippers who don’t load and unload cars quickly or who make last-minute changes to unit train service schedules. “We are certain the proposed tariffs are fair, balanced, and reciprocal in nature,” Kenny Rocker, UP’s executive vice president of marketing and sales, wrote in […]
Keith Creel, Canadian Pacific CEO Canadian Pacific PALM BEACH, Fla. — Canadian Pacific will renew its locomotive fleet by continuing to rebuild stored high-horsepower AC-traction units in 2019 and 2020 before considering the purchase of new power, CEO Keith Creel says. “We’re not in the market at all for new locomotives,” Creel told an investor […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have asked Norfolk Southern to begin weekly conference calls to keep them updated on operational changes as the railroad moves toward adopting principles of Precision Scheduled Railroading. Surface Transportation Board Chairman Ann Begeman made the request in a Nov. 27 letter to NS CEO Jim Squires. “I am writing to inform […]
An aerial view of the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio. General Motors In the wake of General Motors’ plant closure announcements, stocks of affected railroads were down in morning trading on Tuesday. GM’s announcement yesterday to halt production at five plants in North America includes three major auto assembly facilities served by Norfolk Southern, […]
DETROIT — General Motors announced Monday that it will cease production at three automotive assembly plants and two transmission plants in North America next year, a decision sure to impact the railroads that serve them. The largest of the assembly plants slated for shutdown is the 6.2-million acre Lordstown Complex in Warren, Ohio, that produces […]
LOWELL, Ark. — John Roberts, CEO of rail intermodal pioneer J.B. Hunt, says rail reliability issues are causing the company to turn away customers from its intermodal business. “That drives a sales guy like me crazy,” said Roberts, according to a J. B. Hunt-released transcript of his comments at the recent Baird Industrial Global Conference […]
Keith Creel, Canadian Pacific CEO Canadian Pacific NEW YORK — Class I railroad mergers are unlikely to occur in 2019, but if two of the major systems were to combine the most likely pairing would be between CSX Transportation and Canadian Pacific, a Wall Street analyst wrote in a research note this week. “We believe […]
A water tank on the Pacific Coast Railroad in Washington displays discoloration brought by impurities in the local water. Al Farrow photo, Martin E. Hansen collection Q Did steam locomotive operators test the water prior to filling the tender? Was water treated then or prior to filling the tank? Without treatment would there have been […]
