rail service

What are stakeholders in the freight rail space keeping an eye on in 2024? Here’s a starter list.

The U.S. freight rail industry got schooled in 2023 on issues including the three R’s: rail safety, reciprocal switching and relationships.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division is continuing to express its disappointment over planned furloughs at Union Pacific. But UP insists that it will call back furloughed employees as the railway pursues rail service and safety goals.

Executives with CSX, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern at recent investor conferences listed some of the ways they expect to improve rail service.

After serving one five-year term on the Surface Transportation Board, Chairman Marty Oberman has decided against seeking reappointment.

Rail shippers largely welcome a reciprocal switching rule proposed last week by the Surface Transportation Board, but some wish it did more to incentivize rail competition.

After years of wrangling over the issue, the Surface Transportation Board has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on reciprocal switching that will seek to define the service parameters where a switching action could take place.

The Reliable Rail Service Act would charge the Surface Transportation Board to provide more clarity on the freight railroads’ common carrier obligation.

The unions blast the Class I railroads’ public statements on the railroads’ efforts to bolster employee head count in a filing to the Surface Transportation Board.

Rail service may have improved but that shouldn’t relieve the Surface Transportation Board from pursuing shipper-friendly regulatory reforms, shippers say.

A hearing held by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on freight rail supply chain challenges focused on a range of topics.

Union Pacific, BNSF and Norfolk Southern need to go further in improving rail service, according to a Surface Transportation Board decision requiring the railroads to submit service performance reports.

Rail service for chemical and agricultural shippers has gotten better, but further improvements could be made, according to two reports.

The Surface Transportation Board recently took action on Union Pacific’s use of embargoes in the Midwest and rejected the Class I railroads’ request to delay a program related to smaller rate disputes.

Eight U.S. representatives from Iowa and Minnesota want the Surface Transportation Board to require Union Pacific to fix service issues and lift weather-related embargoes in the region.

FTR Transportation Intelligence expects a competitive truck market and port activity shift to put pressure on rail intermodal in 2023.

An active Surface Transportation Board and ongoing issues to fully restore rail network capacity are among the issues that industry stakeholders are eyeing in the new year.

Rail service, an active Surface Transportation Board and continued M&A activity were among 2022’s news highlights.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s report on precision scheduled railroading serves as a broad overview of how the freight rail industry has changed over the past decade.

Following last week’s hearing on embargoes before the Surface Transportation Board, Union Pacific has decided to pause the program. Meanwhile, the board is considering what it can do to encourage rail volume growth.

Shippers testified before the Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday about how embargoes affect their operations.

The unions and the freight railroads must repair their relationship and collaborate on improving service if the industry wants to thrive and take more market share, observers told FreightWaves.

STB Chairman Marty Oberman told UP it didn’t provide enough information on its embargo practices ahead of a two-day hearing next week.

The Surface Transportation Board wants to know why Union Pacific has been issuing hundreds of embargoes since 2018.

Federal board wants four Class I railroads to continue submitting rail service data that shows how service is improving.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin has introduced the Reliable Rail Service Act in response to calls from shippers’ groups and the unions to help restore the nation’s rail network capacity.

Just because a labor agreement is in sight between the railroads and the unions, that doesn’t mean rail service will instantly improve, shippers told FreightWaves.

The CEOs of Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern anticipate rail volumes to grow amid service improvements and despite macroeconomic uncertainties, according to their comments at an investor conference this week.

The Association of American Railroads estimates that a nationwide strike could cost about $2 billion each day, while shippers groups rally Congress to intervene in the event a strike seems imminent.

Peak harvest season begins in the U.S. soon, and grain shippers are hoping rail service will be able to meet market demand.

The American Chemistry Council says freight rail service still leaves much to be desired, despite the railroads’ efforts to improve.

The Surface Transportation Board wants to know how the seven Class I railroads expect to meet demand for rail service during the harvest season running from September into the new year.

Precision scheduled railroading again took center stage during a roundtable concerning rail service.

Transport Canada is considering making the data collection of rail service metrics permanent — a move the Forest Products Association of Canada supports.

Data from June reflects how rail service challenges persist into summer. Meanwhile, higher headcount levels and macroeconomic uncertainties await the rails for the remainder of this year.

Congressmen back calls from fertilizer and agricultural products shippers to improve freight rail service, plus news about a new federal grant program to eliminate railroad crossings and updates on CN and Canadian Pacific.

The Transportation Trades Department wants Congress to modify the language to ensure freight railroads provide adequate service.

BNSF’s brief embargo aims to reduce Southern California network congestion, which the railway partly blamed on bad weather.

The Surface Transportation Board wants BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific to submit additional information on their rail service recovery plans after finding that the initial plan submissions “were perfunctory” and lacked detail.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators wants the Surface Transportation Board to take action to address service delays and congestion on the freight rail network.

Rail investors and observers think the Class I railroads’ efforts to bolster train and engine crew counts will improve rail service in the second half of this year. But geopolitical, economic and regulatory uncertainties also abound.

The Surface Transportation Board wants Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern to provide service recovery plans following reports and testimony about deteriorating rail service.

A hearing at the Surface Transportation Board raised hard questions that could influence the trajectory of the freight rail industry.

The Surface Transportation Board wants ‘act on its own initiative’ to modify rules governing its response to service emergencies

The Class I railroads say they have been trying to improve service, which has deteriorated amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Surface Transportation Board questions whether headcount reductions come into play.

The eastern U.S. railroad is aggressively courting new employees as well as seeking to retain current ones to improve traffic flow and reduce delays.

CSX defended its service record and its responsiveness to customer concerns to the Surface Transportation Board, which had sent CSX a letter in October saying that the board received complaints over the railroad’s recent performance.

STB has allowed agri-food shipper Sanimax to proceed in its complaint against Union Pacific over service issues.

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services jumped 10% Friday as the company navigated supply chain challenges during the third quarter to beat analysts’ forecasts.

August is likely to see a new monthly record for retail container imports, with 2021 doing the same. However, ongoing supply chain dislocation clouds how quickly consumers will be able to get their hands on the goods.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beat second-quarter expectations Monday. However, the back half of 2021 will depend on how well the railroads and shippers can improve their operations.

Rail shippers discuss what issues they would like to see addressed in 2021. Among them: further action by the Surface Transportation Board and Congress on ensuring rail competition and adequate rail service.

Expanding what service and performance data Transport Canada collects could help demystify the freight rail operations, the agency said.

The Senate has confirmed the appointments of Robert Primus and Michelle Schultz.

Tight container market, COVID-19 pandemic concerns and sufficient network capacity are among top concerns of some grain shippers.

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services move 9% lower after the company fails to meet recently raised analyst expectations. Intermodal service headwinds and elevated costs were the culprits.

A bountiful harvest, anticipated surge in export volumes as well as wild card factors could test U.S. rail network capacity post-PSR.

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.

The Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration administrator seek answers about Class I rail performance, while labor groups question furlough-related actions.

Record intermodal shipments on the rail for the second year in a row has deep implication for the trucking market into 2019. Trucking will benefit, at least partially, from Norfolk Southern’s latest decision.