‘Many things go undetected and it’s starting to show’ By Joanna Marsh for freightwaves.com Although almost all of the Class I railroads have been deploying precision scheduled railroading (PSR), an operational model that seeks to streamline operations, for several years already, a number of issues keep the debate over its value alive. The railroads have argued that […]
Written by Matt Parker for railwayage.com Editor’s Note: This opinion piece is in response to my invitation for “reasonable, fact-based, non-political opinions on Precision Scheduled Railroading by experienced railroaders from both the agreement and non-agreement sectors, to encourage discussion,” in response to “PSR Point/Counterpoint: Fortune,” published July 22 – William C. Vantuono An Oct. 3, 2018 article […]
Freight rail doesn’t function without a strong workforce. BY PETER DEFAZIO for fortune.com In a commentary published in Fortuneearlier this month, Ike Brannon and Michael F. Gorman took great liberties in trying to debunk my concerns with precision scheduled railroading (PSR). Please allow me to set the record straight. I have served on the U.S. […]
By Bill Stephens for cstrains.com The biggest surprise to come out of the Class I railroads’ second quarter results was not how bad the traffic, revenue, and earnings declines were. Everyone knew they’d be u-g-l-y given how the pandemic torpedoed the economy and sank rail traffic. No, what surprised me most was the way BNSF […]
Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor for railwayage.com The year was 1917, and on Dec. 18, President Woodrow Wilson invoked the Army Appropriations Act of 1916 to take federal control of the nation’s railroads. The U.S. had entered World War I that April, and a lack of coordination among railroads, along with labor strife, […]
What is the outlook for cold storage rail freight as a growth segment? Original story by Jim Blaze for freightwaves.com (Image credit: hefferwolfe.weebly.com) Where’s the strategic volume growth? Just five years ago, in April 2014, BNSF expected to begin moving eggs and other perishables in unit trains with McKay TransCold as the lead […]
By Lee Samaha via fool.com (TMFSaintGermain) The latest earnings reports from the listed Class 1 railroads demonstrated their ability to improve profitability even in a weak trading environment. It’s been an unusual earnings season for the Class 1 railroads. Their revenue is usually tied to conditions in the industrial economy, and with the news being […]
Railroad, like its rivals, continues to streamline operations; quarterly profit fell 10% By Paul Ziobro for wsj.com Union Pacific Corp. UNP -2.47% plans to run its railroad with nearly 3,000 fewer workers this year as the company pushes ahead with a new operating plan that runs fewer, longer trains. The Omaha, Neb.-based company said it […]
Written by David C. Lester, Managing Editor The number of Class 1 railroad employees dropped again in October, with the total number at 134,582, according to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board data and reporting by FreightWaves. This level is a drop of 1.7% since September and a 9.5% drop compared to October 2018. The decline […]
Last Thursday, the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials held a roundtable discussion with various railroad customers to hear their concerns with recent business policy initiatives of the railroads, including Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) and increased demurrage rates. Many of the concerns raised by customers are similar to those expressed by TCU and […]