En el primer trimestre de 2025, los ferrocarriles de Clase I en América del Norte están demostrando hasta ahora niveles variados de rendimiento del servicio, según nuevas métricas ordenadas por la Junta de Transporte de Surface. El STB ahora requiere que los ferrocarriles de carga importantes...
Surface Transportation Board
Local service still a sticking point for Class I railroads
In the first quarter of 2025, Class I railroads in North America are so far demonstrating varied levels of service performance, according to new metrics mandated by the Surface Transportation Board. The STB now requires major freight railroads to report additional data on on-time percentages, train speeds and terminal dwell times in an effort to increase transparency and accountability.
The new STB metrics, which began being collected in September 2024, establish baseline standards for on-time...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/local-service-still-a-sticking-point-for-class-i-railroads
Fuchs to lead Surface Transportation Board
Republican Patrick J. Fuchs on Monday was designated by President Donald Trump as chairman of the five-member Surface Transportation Board.
The 36-year-old Fuchs succeeds Democrat Robert E. Primus, who was designated chairman by President Joe Biden in May 2024 following the retirement of Martin J. Oberman, also a Democrat. Primus will remain a board member through the expiration of his second term Dec. 31, 2027.
Fuchs was confirmed to his second five-year term on the board in May 2024. Prior to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fuchs-to-lead-surface-transportation-board
STB chair remains frustrated over Class I railroads’ lack of growth
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Approaching the likely end of his tenure as chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, Robert Primus made it clear: The hearing the board held last fall on growth in the rail industry did not ease his concerns about Class I efforts to increase volume.
In a rare address Thursday at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting — the same day he issued a statement concerning retaliation by railroads against those who bring matters to the board or participate in its...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stb-chair-remains-frustrated-over-class-i-railroads-lack-of-growth
At TRB: How high-tech mapping can grow intermodal, and a data reality check
WASHINGTON — Here’s what supply chain stakeholders know for certain about intermodal transportation: It involves freight moving between air, land and sea. Beyond that, well, there are more questions than answers.
The 104th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board provided a fertile setting for more than 13,000 educators, regulators and private businesses to consider diversified research into how to get from here to there, and the elusive goal of making it all more efficient.
At a...
Regulators scold Union Pacific for lack of cooperation
This story originally appeared on Trains.com.
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has taken Union Pacific to task for an ongoing lack of cooperation in a new decision on the railroad’s effort to construct a 6-mile rail line in Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties.
The primary matter concerns UP’s request for an exemption for construction of the Pecos Industrial Rail Access Train Extension (PIRATE) to connect UP’s Phoenix Subdivision main line to industrial properties near Phoenix-Mesa...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/regulators-scold-union-pacific-for-lack-of-cooperation
Unions warn regulators cost cuts at BNSF are risky
WASHINGTON — Recent cutbacks totaling $105 million in BNSF’s 2024 capital maintenance plan have raised major safety and service concerns from the railroad’s unions.
In a statement filed with the Surface Transportation Board, Tony Cardwell, president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the Teamsters Union, contends that BNSF’s decision to defer the maintenance and infrastructure projects is being done “in pursuit of a lower operating ratio” to satisfy the...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/unions-warn-regulators-cost-cuts-at-bnsf-are-risky
At STB, rail shippers reveal preference for trucks
WASHINGTON — More regulatory oversight is needed to keep rail volumes from shifting to trucks and limiting the railroads’ growth potential, rail customers have told the Surface Transportation Board.
Their testimony, along with that of railroads, unions, industry consultants and others has been filed with STB ahead of a two-day hearing at the agency next week over concerns about the railroads’ ability to continue to grow their business.
“The deteriorating rail service members have experienced for...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/at-stb-rail-shippers-reveal-preference-for-trucks
Regulators nervous about rail freight decline
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are summoning executives from the major freight railroads to a rare public hearing to explain how their companies plan to invest in and grow their business amid concern over recent negative volume trends.
In a notice published Friday, the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates railroad rates and service, said it also welcomes railroad customers, suppliers and rail labor to testify during the two-day hearing on Sept. 16 and 17 at STB headquarters in...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/regulators-nervous-about-rail-freight-decline
Union Pacific CEO defends safety practices without mentioning key critic
Jim Vena’s opening remarks Wednesday at the J.P. Morgan 2024 Industrials Conference could easily be seen as a rebuttal to one man: Amit Bose, the chairman of the Federal Railroad Administration.
Bose wrote a letter to the Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) CEO Feb. 29, responding to reports of extensive furloughs at the Class 1 railroad that serves the Western half of the U.S. “The [FRA] has previously communicated our concerns to UP regarding the potential risks of reducing staffing levels in critical...