Freight Rail

Rail carloads, at 1,041,544, decreased 0.9%, or 9,130 carloads, annually, and intermodal, at 1,056,146, fell 2.1%, or 51,962 units.

Montreal-based Class I railroad carrier CN recently announced it has completed its acquisition of the Winnipeg-based The TransX Group of Companies. This acquisition was originally announced in late October. Financial terms were not disclosed.

STB officials said that railroads, shippers, third-party logistics providers, and other interested parties “will be invited to speak at the hearing and report their experience with demurrage and accessorial charges, including matters such as reciprocity, commercial fairness, operational and capacity issues, and effects on network fluidity.”

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) recently reported that Class I railroads have made significant strides in its efforts to implement positive train control (PTC) on 83.2% of the required Class I PTC miles in the United States.

Rail carloads, at 258,833, headed up 7.4%, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 284,278, increased 6.5%.

With the news over the weekend that E. Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer of Class I railroad CSX passed away on Saturday December 16 at the age of 73, there was no shortage of praise for a man, whom was widely viewed as the most important railroader of our times. And the praise is likely to continue for more than a while, too, and for good reason.

A 2007 lawsuit that cited Class I railroads­- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., CSX Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp., and Union Pacific Corp- collaborated to fix fuel surcharges was denied class certification, due to what United States District Judge Paul L. Friedman called a failure to “establish that questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members.”

Legislation introduced last week by Senators Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) is focused on putting more investment towards improving and increasing railroad infrastructure and capacity.