rail service

Ag secretary: Rail service ‘remains inadequate and unreliable’

While rail service has improved for agricultural and grain shippers in 2023 compared with last year, ongoing service issues warrant continued attention and regulatory action, rail shippers are telling the Surface Transportation Board.

For starters, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently urged STB to follow through with a number of actions to bolster rail service, including moving forward on proceedings regarding private rail car use and emergency service orders, including addressing...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ag-secretary-rail-service-remains-inadequate-and-unreliable

Freight rail stakeholders lay out their challenges before Congress

Longer trains, employee morale and the role of technology in freight rail operations came under at times withering scrutiny at a U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.

The hearing, convened to discuss supply chain challenges in the freight rail industry, became a forum for discussion of hot-button topics. Five witnesses at the Thursday hearing spelled out ongoing concerns of stakeholders.

Asked what problems a bipartisan House supply chain caucus should focus on,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freight-rail-stakeholders-lay-out-their-challenges-before-congress

3 US Class I railroads must keep giving STB service improvement updates

Three of the four U.S. Class I railroads must continue submitting biweekly rail service progress reports to federal regulators through the end of the year as proof of improving rail service because they have not fully met their service targets.

The requirement by the Surface Transportation Board applies to Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC). CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) will no longer be required to do so because it has met nearly all of its one-year service...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/3-us-class-i-railroads-must-keep-giving-stb-service-improvement-updates

Rail service metrics still lacking

Rail service has gotten better since the service meltdowns seen in the first half of 2022, but more needs to be done to get service metrics back to pre-pandemic levels, according to two reports on rail service.

ACC: Most say rail service in H2 2022 didn’t improve from H1

Seventy-eight percent of the members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) say rail service was the same or worse in the second half of 2022 compared with the first half of that year, according to a report released Thursday.

Fort...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rail-service-metrics-still-lacking

STB response on UP service limited; agency won’t delay arbitration program

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The Surface Transportation Board and Chairman Marty Oberman recently responded to several rail...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stb-response-on-up-service-limited-agency-wont-delay-arbitration-program

Midwest lawmakers call on regulators to halt Union Pacific embargoes

Eight members of Congress representing districts in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin want the Surface Transportation Board to compel Union Pacific to lift weather-related embargoes in their states.

A Jan. 13 letter addressed to STB Chairman Marty Oberman asks the agency to “exercise its statutory oversight authority” and conduct a forum that would involve UP and affected rail shippers and result in UP lifting its embargoes.

UP placed a temporary embargo on operations in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/midwest-lawmakers-call-on-regulators-to-halt-union-pacific-embargoes

Rail intermodal to ‘struggle’ in 2023, consulting firm says

Consulting firm FTR Transportation Intelligence expects rail intermodal to face a tough year in 2023 amid weaker demand, a competitive truck market and a shift in U.S. port activity away from the West Coast to East and Gulf ports that utilize shorter inland hauls.

All of the rail intermodal segments — domestic and international — “are going to struggle” in 2023, said Todd Tranausky, FTR vice president for rail and intermodal, during a webinar last week.

Growth could happen in the fourth quarter...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rail-intermodal-to-struggle-in-2023-consulting-firm-says

Expect to hear more about rail service issues in 2023

The Surface Transportation Board’s regulatory to-do list, train crew sizes and merger conditions related to Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern are just some of the big issues that rail industry stakeholders will be watching in 2023.

One of the biggest issues that the U.S. freight industry will tackle is how to improve rail service. Closely related to that are the potential actions that STB could take to address that issue.

“After being dormant for much of the last decade, the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/expect-to-hear-more-about-rail-service-issues-in-2023

GAO studies impact of PSR on US freight rail

A newly released Government Accountability Office report lays out how precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has affected freight rail operations but doesn’t offer recommendations on what steps the industry should take next.

The report essentially summarizes the various views of stakeholders on PSR, which GAO defined as a “strategy intended to increase efficiency and reduce costs.”

Congressional leaders had directed GAO to study the effect PSR has on freight rail safety and service. The agency...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/gao-studies-impact-of-psr-on-us-freight-rail

Labor strife, service problems railroads’ biggest issues in 2022

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To say that 2022 was an eventful year for the U.S. and Canadian freight railroads would be an...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/labor-strife-service-problems-railroads-biggest-issues-in-2022

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