As the Class I railroads begin reporting their second quarter earnings results next week, some members of the Wall Street community expect the lower rail volumes from the second quarter to affect the railroads’ financial results.
Year-to-date U.S. rail volumes fell yet again this week, although improving economic indicators signal that rail volumes could moderate in the weeks and months ahead.
Although the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has voted in favor of the nomination of an additional board member to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), whether and when she will be installed remains to be seen.
“Without documented strategies for how it plans to communicate the results of its research, FRA may lose an opportunity to effectively work with internal and external stakeholders – such as railroads, rail workers and local communities – to address any risks of operating longer trains in support of the agency’s mission of enabling the safe, efficient and reliable transportation of people and goods.”
Jim Blaze writes about railroad movement of scrap – the market today and the future of the market.
The service problems associated with precision scheduled railroading (PSR) have motivated forest products and scrap recycling shippers to press the Surface Transportation Board to renew a longstanding request for regulatory oversight.
Blocking railroad crossings in Oklahoma now could come at a financial cost for freight railroads.
In the longer-term, rail industry observers are waiting to see how and whether Genesee & Wyoming will be able to make the capital investments needed to maintain its infrastructure.
Some members of Congress remain determined to address the question of whether having more crew members on a train makes that train safer.
Year-to-date U.S. rail volumes fell again amid a loosening truck market, receding floodwaters in the Midwest and overall economic uncertainty.
An additional $300 billion in proposed U.S. tariffs against China could result in lower railroad freight volume , but economic uncertainty and competition from trucks appear so far to be bigger threats for rail volumes.
Market expert Jim Blaze writes about the railroads’ transportation of fracking sand, as well as stone and gravel, aggregates and phosphates.
Should the Class I railroads see U.S. rail volumes sustainably increase, furloughed workers could be called back to meet network capacity needs, resulting in a bump up of headcount levels. But another factor that could affect headcount levels in the long-term is the deployment of automation technologies.
The implementation of precision scheduled railroading has contributed to dwindling morale and could result in creating unsafe working conditions should the federal government withhold intervention, according to union witnesses at a June 20th Congressional hearing on rail safety.
Autonomous trains might be fully running in remote Australia, but it will take awhile before those kinds of trains will be rolling down the North American countryside.
U.S. rail volumes trended downward again for the week ending June 15, with weekly volumes falling over 5 percent and year-to-date volumes declining nearly 3 percent, according to the latest data from the Association of American Railroads.
North Dakota’s lawmakers are fighting Washington state’s new crude-by-rail law, saying it could curtail shipments of state-produced Bakken crude oil.
The Federal Railroad Administration is awarding more than $326 million in grants to help states and localities repair, maintain and build rail infrastructure supporting freight rail and intercity passenger rail.
Flooding impacts, cheap natural gas prices, and trade and economic uncertainty could be factors contributing to a significant slump in weekly U.S. rail volume.
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association is urging Congress to pass legislation that would make permanent the tax credit that short lines receive for infrastructure improvements.
