Precision Scheduled Railroading

While freight demand and volumes still leave room for growth, the overall state of the intermodal market remains somewhat mixed, albeit with some potentially promising signs ahead. That was the word from Larry Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting, at the recent RailTrends conference in New York hosted by Progressive Railroading and independent railroad analyst Tony Hatch.

In a recent speech given at the Northeast Association of Rail Shippers (NEARS) fall conference in Portland, Maine, Robert Primus, a member of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), an independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers, told the railroad carrier and shipper attendees that the biggest concern in the sector is railroad service levels.

The Unified Plan 2020 will first be implemented on Union Pacific's eastern North/South corridor, creating more streamlined operations between Wisconsin and Texas, the further rollout will occur in phases, with initial implementation across the entire rail network expected by 2020.

In a letter to leadership at the United States Surface Transportation Board, CSX CEO James Foote outlined the progress the Jacksonville, Fla.-based Class I freight railroad carrier has made in its ongoing implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading.