CHICAGO — BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer and Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena are among those scheduled to speak at the annual meeting of the North American Rail Shippers, set for April 30-May 2 in Chicago.
The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk hotel, 301 E. North Water Street, and is held in conjunction with the Traffic Club of Chicago’s annual dinner and golf outing April 30.
“Views from the railroad industry’s most influential leaders will be a highlight of this year’s meeting,” NARS President John Meyers said in a press release. “We are thrilled to have already confirmed presentations from four senior-level Class I railroad executives, along with insights from Tony Hatch and noted rail historian William H. Gallagher.”
While the agenda is still being finalized, others set to participate, in addition to those already mentioned, include Arthur Adams, CSX senior vice president of sales and marketing, and retired Kansas City Southern CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer.
Registration is $575 until April 15 and $625 thereafter; registration and more information is available here. Hotel registration is available here. The Traffic Club dinner and golf outing requires separate registration, which is available here.
I suggest an agenda item be how the North American Rail Shippers Association is going to help fight the effort of minority funding sources like the current Ancora Holdings offensive from upsetting the efforts by railroads to keep from having to meet the unrealistic efforts of Wall Street backed funds to dictate the use of the Operating Ratio as the sign of health in the operations of Railroads. All it is is a vehicle by these investment advisors to inflate their short term profits at the expense of the industry health against government subsidized trucking. BNSF doesn’t have to worry because they are privately held but the rest of the Class 1’s are squarely in the sights of these myopic analysts who only see lining their pockets in the short term as the real function of railroads. This requires a call to arms of everyone with an operational stake in the rail transportation industry to “…rally round the flag…” as it were to block these shortsighted actions which will keep the industry and the supply chain in operational paralysis and the economy as well.