Rail Freight

Rail and intermodal continue to improve service and create value for shippers despite an uneven economy engulfed in an atmosphere of political uncertainty. Our panel of top analysts maintains that the railroads are only looking at extending their lead.

In comments filed with the Surface Transportation Board this week, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) made its case to nix a proposal from the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) that the AAR said could result in United States Class I railroads losing revenue up to 80 percent of their entire capital budgets.

Carload volume—at 280,748—was up 3.7 percent annually, and intermodal—at 231,648 trailers and containers—was up 0.2 percent.

A few weeks shy of their respective first quarter earnings announcements East Coast-based Class I railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX are feeling pretty good about their businesses.

The Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal is truly a state-of-the-art facility unlike any the world has seen before. It's a revolution in rail that serves the millions of Americans who rely on the products carried on CSX's intermodal network.

Infrastructure enhancements such as the National Gateway are critical for rail transportation to help create jobs, promote growth and sustain the environment.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported in February that U.S. Class I railroads originated a record 233,811 carloads of crude oil in 2012, representing a 256 percent gain (not a typo) from the 65,751 carloads of crude oil originated in 2011.

Carload volume—at 278,059—was down 1.2 percent annually, and intermodal volume—at 238,083 containers and trailers—was up 11 percent.

January carloads—at 1,339,604—were down 6.3 percent annually. Intermodal—at 1,168,630 trailers and containers—was up 5.3 percent compared to January 2012.

Class I railroad carrier Canadian Pacific (CP) said this week that Keith Creel has been named president and COO, effective today. Creel joins CP from Canadian National Railway Company (CN), where he served as vice president and chief operating officer.

Carload volume—at 241,682—was down 12.1 percent annually, Intermodal volumes—at 178,317 trailers and containers—were down 8 percent.

2012 carload volume at 14,682,219 was down 3.1 percent compared to 2011’s 15,155,992, and intermodal volume at 12,267,336 trailers and containers was up 3.2 percent compared to 2011’s 11,892,431

Our panel forecasts soft spikes across the modes as carriers fine-tune their yield management strategies. In turn, shippers must now focus on collaboration and be more creative than ever if they’re to contain costs.

Heads of NITL and AAR discuss differences over railroad switching at RailTrends conference.

In an effort to have closer proximity to one of the biggest technology regions of the United States, Class I railroad carrier Union Pacific said this week that it has opened up an Austin, Texas-based information technology center.