Railroad Shipping

Following the issuing of a final rule by the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) earlier this month, establishing establishes minimum safety requirements for train crew sizes, with the new rule requiring a second crew member on all trains, four U.S.-based railroads are calling on federal appeals courts to toss out the rule, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and an illegal abuse of discretion,” according to an Associated Press report.

Rail carloads, at 209,142, were off 4.5% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 241,000 units, increased 7.6% annually.

In this podcast, Tony Hatch offered up his views on various aspects of the freight railroad and intermodal sectors, including: market conditions, service levels, volumes, and nearshoring, among others. 

In its petition, which was formally filed with the STB on March 25, RSI is calling on STB to review and assess the existing Arbitration Rule that governs car hire rate negotiations in the railroad industry, at a time when RSI said that concerns are mounting regarding what it called the “unsustainable trajectory of boxcar supply, where investments have not kept pace with the looming retirement of a substantial portion of the North American boxcar fleet.”

Rail carloads, at 866,865, were down 3.5%, or 31,101 carloads, annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 1,022,321 units, rose 11.7%, or 106,903 units, annually.

FRA officials explained having a second crewmember provides various safety functions that are not able to be realized on a single-person crew. As an example, without the final rule, it noted how on a train with one crewmember, railroads could initiate single-crew operations and not perform a rigorous risk assessment, mitigate known risks or notify the FRA.

In this podcast, Tony Hatch offered up his views on various aspects of the freight railroad and intermodal sectors, including: market conditions, service levels, volumes, and nearshoring, among others. 

Rail carloads, at 219,586, fell 0.6% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 255,010, saw a 13.8% annual increase.

Rail carloads, at 219,586, fell 0.6% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 255,010, saw a 13.8% annual increase.

Rail carloads, at 214,585, fell 3.7% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 258,077, saw a 13.5% annual gain.

Rail carloads, at 885,548, fell 1.3%, or 11,410 carloads, annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 1,040,312 containers and trailers, rose 10.9% annually.

At this point, anyone who has seen Martin J. Oberman, Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), a Washington, D.C.-based independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers, speak at a freight railroad conference, knows he is not holding anything back. That again was the case, when he gave a keynote speech at last week’s Southeastern Association of Rail Shippers (SEARS) 2024 Spring Meeting in Atlanta.

Rail carloads, at 224,251, increased 2.6% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 259,405, saw a 12.6% annual gain.

J.B. Hunt Transport signed a multiyear deal with global retail giant Walmart, with a key component of the deal being its acquisition of Walmart’s intermodal assets, including its operational intermodal container and chassis fleets.  

Rail carloads, at 220,362, were down 2.5% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 264,478 units, increased 11.1%.