With coronavirus cases rising sharply in the U.S. and Canada in recent weeks, the Class I railroads have also been grappling with managing increased COVID-19 exposure on their networks.
Meanwhile, some rail union members contend that the railroads have been inconsistent with how safety precautions have been applied throughout the rail network (see below).
A CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) executive recently said his company has been seeing a lot of cases within the U.S. rail network, particularly in the...
The U.S. operations of the Class I railroads are nearly fully interoperable, with 91.6% of the network reaching interoperability by the end of the third quarter, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
At the end of the second quarter, U.S. Class I rail operations were 79% interoperable.
Interoperability is the final step toward becoming fully compliant with the federal positive train control (PTC) mandate. By Dec. 31, the U.S. operations of the Class I railroads,...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/us-class-i-railroads-are-almost-fully-interoperable
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has published a final rule on performance metrics for passenger trains, addressing an issue that has been in limbo for over a decade.
The rule sets forth metrics and a minimum standard measuring the performance and service quality of Amtrak trains, including metrics relating to on-time performance and train delays, customer service, and financial and public benefits, FRA said Monday.
The rule is important for the freight rail industry because Amtrak uses...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/federal-railroad-administration-finalizes-on-time-performance-rule
With the railroads’ third-quarter earnings releases over and done, it’s time to take a look at who the “winners” and “laggards” were in Q3.
For commodities, the answer might be looking at North American rail volumes in the third quarter. Grain is one obvious “winner.” U.S. grain volumes were up 27.8% in September and 25.5% in October, according to the Association of American Railroads, while Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) and CN (NYSE: CNI) reported record grain movements over the last several...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/q3-rail-recap-the-good-and-not-so-good
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To view more FreightWaves infographics, click here.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/daily-infographic-us-freight-railroad-categories
The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.
Economic integration within North America cannot work without a reliable transportation infrastructure. Two important forces come into play when building transportation infrastructure: favorable geography and the magnetic pull of preexisting transportation hubs and population centers. Sometimes new locales become prominent and sometimes older ones regain their...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/commentary-another-iron-link-for-usmca
Political action committees (PACs) that are related to the rail industry have donated $3.7 million during the 2020 election cycle to Republican and Democratic congressional candidates.
Of that total, 44%, or $1.6 million, was for Democratic candidates, while 56%, or $2.1 million, was for Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Center for Responsive Politics defines PACs as groups that are formed “for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/freight-rail-pacs-contribute-to-republicans-and-democrats
The Class I railroads with a presence in the U.S. Gulf Coast are monitoring how Hurricane Zeta will affect rail operations.
Service disruptions could occur as a result of the storm, they said in service advisories Tuesday and Wednesday, and the railroads will assess their networks for post-storm damage.
Zeta made landfall Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of around 110 mph, FreightWaves reported early Thursday. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the continental U.S. this...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/class-i-railroads-watch-for-hurricane-zeta-impacts
Did you know that the U.S. rail industry had a chance to be the freight industry leader in offering customers a robust cargo tracking and shipment exception service?
Yes. Between 1992 and 1994, three of the largest Class I railroads were united with American President Lines and Amtech Logistics Corp. in a venture to capture car movement data and package it for their customers’ supply chain management needs. It would have provided “freight car location messaging” (CLM in railroading terminology)...
The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.
The six railroads that practice their marketing-term model that is called precision scheduled railroading (PSR) will be reporting their third-quarter financial results through the remaining days of October.
There is, however, an opportunity for a more holistic quarterly briefing.
This week’s market view rail column provides an argument for a new checklist of...