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.
GBX management explains soft guidance and provides outlook for sequential earnings improvement.
Barge grain movements on Mississippi 85 percent lower than a year ago
Jim Blaze writes about the movement of grain by rail. This is a huge business for U.S. and Canadian railroads, and is also critical to the export market of the two countries.
GWR acquired in $8.4 billion deal that many investors view as the plan all along.
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.
Market expert Jim Blaze writes about the movement of coal by rail. He explores the history of rail-coal; more importantly, he writes about what the future may hold for coal in the U.S. and how that will impact the railroads.
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.
The transition to e-commerce and anticipated advances in automated trucking are forcing the freight railroads to adapt to supply chains that require railroads to be more responsive and nimble. One way that the railroads are seeking to address this challenge is by hiring executives outside of the railroading community, in the hopes that placing a non-rail executive in a leadership role will help the railroad weather systemic changes within the supply chain.
Railroad market expert Jim Blaze writes about the movement of chemicals by rail and how that sub-set of railroad traffic is profitable and may grow significantly in the near future.
U.S. coal export volumes are down 12.7 percent in the first four months of this year and the outlook looks even worse for 2020.
