SANTA ANA, Calif. — South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are suing the four largest U.S. Class I railroads, saying the railroads are violating U.S. antitrust law with coordinated fuel surcharges that drive up shipping costs. Reuters reports that the companies filed the suits Tuesday in federal court in Santa Ana, near their U.S. headquarters […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
STB proposes rule to change reporting requirements for chemicals and plastics traffic on railroads NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would amend the Board’s railroad performance data reporting rules. Specifically, the Board proposes to include chemical and plastics traffic as a distinct reporting category to the Class I railroads’ weekly reporting of the “cars-held” metric, which tracks the average number […]
Surface Transportation Board proposes a third method for calculating railroads’ capital costs NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to enhance its methodology for determining the railroad industry’s cost of capital by incorporating an additional model, called “Step MSDCF,” into the calculation. Each year, the Board determines the railroad industry’s cost of capital. This figure, which the Board calculates as […]
Track Machines Connected launches NEWSWIRE
HAGENBERG, Austria — Track Machines Connected (TMC) launched its business today, taking over the former Plasser & Theurer Connected subsidiary of maintenance-equipment firm Plasser & Theurer. The new company will add additional services for collection and processing of rail infrastructure data to those offered by P&T Connected, which since its launch in 2017 had worked […]
Canadian railroad executives see economic slowdown NEWSWIRE
MONTREAL — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific see signs that the economy is slowing but are sticking to their financial targets for this year as their traffic growth moderates. Canadian rail traffic has been much stronger than U.S. volume this year, but growth is weakening and crude oil traffic, while up, did not materialize as […]
BNSF increases intermodal service to Northwest Ohio via CSX NEWSWIRE
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway this week launched a sixth day of intermodal service linking Los Angeles and CSX Transportation’s Northwest Ohio terminal. BNSF added a Sunday morning eastbound departure from its Hobart terminal in Los Angeles and a Monday morning westbound departure from North Baltimore, Ohio. BNSF began directly serving CSX’s former intermodal […]
AAR: Most carload and intermodal traffic trend downward, again NEWSWIRE
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Sept. 21, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 528,670 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.8% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Sept. 21 were […]
Rail Safety Week focus: Prevent trespasser deaths NEWSWIRE
While Amtrak Police Officer Job Hernandez checks for another train, the motorized skateboarder in the foreground prepares to cross the tracks in back of the Metra train headed into Chicago Union Station on Sept. 24, 2019. Bob Johnston CHICAGO — Thousands of police department, railroad, and safety-oriented organization personnel throughout the country are participating in […]
New marine fuel regulations could have an impact on 2020 intermodal volumes NEWSWIRE
CMA CGM’s former APL containership President Eisenhower docks at the Port of Los Angeles last week alongside the CMA CGM Norma. Steamship lines will have to comply with a new low-sulfur fuel mandate beginning Jan. 1, 2020. Bill Stephens A low-sulfur marine fuel requirement for steamship lines may have wide-ranging implications for North American intermodal […]
NS to tap expertise of former CN CEO as it adopts kinder, gentler version of Precision Scheduled Railroading NEWSWIRE
Claude Mongeau, former CN CEO Norfolk Southern NORFOLK, Va. — It should come as no surprise that Norfolk Southern has added former Canadian National CEO Claude Mongeau to its board of directors as it shifts to a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. NS CEO Jim Squires has said his railroad is taking a balanced approach […]
Schneider trucking introduces new rail dray service NEWSWIRE
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Trucking and intermodal company Schneider has launched Schneider Rail Dray to aid shippers in getting freight to rail ramps and from rail ramps to receivers. Targeted for the new service are railroads, third party logistics companies without enough truck drivers, and shippers using their own intermodal containers, according to Schneider officials. […]
Texas railroading still recovering from flooding caused by Hurricane Imelda NEWSWIRE
BEAUMONT, Texas — Following heavy rains last week, Kansas City Southern has reopened trackage between Beaumont and Houston while Union Pacific still has freight embargoes on its Beaumont, Houston, and Lafayette Subdivisions, railroad officials say. Closures stemmed from flooding caused by Tropical Depression Imelda. KCS officials advise shippers to “expect delays for some time until […]
