Freight Rail Customer Alliance

Reciprocal switching proposal gets mixed reactions from rail shippers

Rail shippers are still digesting the Surface Transportation Board’s proposed rule for reciprocal switching, but initial reactions are mixed. Shippers back efforts to make the collection of first- and last-mile data permanent and standardize metrics for sufficient rail service, but some also wish the rule would do more to incentivize rail competition.

“All five board members said yes. That’s huge, right? There were no dissenting votes. So, we as the shipper community and the railroad community...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/reciprocal-switching-proposal-gets-mixed-reactions-from-rail-shippers

Utilities: Will we have coal when it’s cold?

A photograph of a Union Pacific train hauling coal over a mountainous landscape.

U.S. utilities are facing record low coal stockpiles ahead of winter, and congestion on the rails as well as the uncertainty of the vaccine mandate are only adding to the stress.

“Coal shippers are concerned about the full range of factors affecting the rail supply chain at this point, including labor shortages and the possibility of labor interruptions,” John Ward, executive director of the National Coal Transportation Association, told FreightWaves. “Relatively mild fall weather may have eased...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/utilities-will-we-have-coal-when-its-cold

Stakeholders gear up for next round in CN-KCS merger process

A photograph of a Kansas City Southern train at a rail crossing.

Shippers groups, Canadian railway CN (NYSE: CNI), Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) and Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) have all been weighing in on whether the Surface Transportation Board (STB) should approve CN’s and Kansas City Southern’s (KCS) proposed voting trust.

CN and KCS have said they need regulatory approval from STB for the voting trust, which they said would insulate KCS from being taken over as the board goes through the merger proceedings.

Shippers groups concerned about market...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stakeholders-gear-up-for-next-round-in-cn-kcs-merger-process

Shippers embrace STB’s demurrage billing rule

A photograph of a train at a manufacturing facility.

Shippers groups are praising the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) effort to address issues with demurrage billing, saying the final rule brings transparency and accountability into the billing process.

Some also hope that this week’s final rule will be part of a longer-term study of how precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has affected the industry, since the number of demurrage billing disputes increased as the railroads implemented PSR. Demurrage charges are the fees that the freight...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shippers-embrace-stbs-demurrage-billing-rule

Freight rail shippers press STB to consider additional data requirements

A photograph of a train passing by a rail crossing.

A coalition of freight rail shippers is still urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to press for additional rail service data from the Class I railroads, according to a filing last week.

The shippers say the additional data might help better inform the board and other rail stakeholders on how to resolve rail service issues that arise at the first mile and last mile. Furthermore, the U.S. operations of the Class I railroads already collect the data and so it wouldn’t cause an additional...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freight-rail-shippers-press-stb-to-consider-additional-data-requirements