Class I railroad

The U.S. rail network comprises nearly 140,000 miles of track, broken into three main categories.

The Class I railroads update agencies on service issues; shippers use the opportunity to ask for data collection on first-mile and last-mile movements.

Class 1 railroads reiterate that some measures they took to cut costs because of the coronavirus could become permanent.

The changes come as the eastern U.S. railroad enters another year of precision scheduled railroading.

The eastern U.S. railroad promotes Vanessa Allen Sutherland to EVP and chief legal officer.

Economic uncertainties, including the prospect of a coronavirus-induced recession, could spur the railroad to update its 2020 guidance.

Uncertainty is still an underlying theme facing North American freight railroads.

North American Class I carloads increased year-over-year in week 47 on a favorable comp. The prior four-week average remains weak.

Jim Blaze explains the new CSX trip compliance reporting… perhaps the first step for railroads to compete more effectively with the trucking industry.

Jim Blaze writes about the competitiveness of railroads vs. trucks and the railroads’ lack of interoperability.

The Canadian class I railroads outlined a number of growth opportunities at an investor conference. Intermodal capacity expansion at the ports and grain delays provided the big takeaways.

As railroads cut less profitable routes, shippers should learn as much as possible about railroads plans for future service.

The Class I railroads have reported their second quarter/first-half of 2019 results. Jim Blaze writes about what may happen during the remainder of 2019.

As the Class I railroads begin reporting their second quarter earnings results next week, some members of the Wall Street community expect the lower rail volumes from the second quarter to affect the railroads’ financial results.

Rail volumes were off again for the week ending June 29, 2019 with U.S. railroads reporting a 5.5 percent decline.

Canadian National announced record western Canadian grain shipments and a C$210 million investment to support exports.

Jim Blaze writes about the movement of grain by rail. This is a huge business for U.S. and Canadian railroads, and is also critical to the export market of the two countries.

“It’s just a confusing time for all of us in transportation and anybody in manufacturing or business in general to have a really good sense of why we’re seeing this kind of softness,” said CSX chief executive officer Jim Foote.

With almost all of the Class I railroads transitioning to precision scheduling railroading (PSR), an operational model that emphasizes running railcars on a fixed schedule, a question surfacing within the rail industry is how much emphasis should the railroads place on lower operating ratio.