If there is one thing I’ve learned in my 23 years in the railway supply industry, it’s that we are an optimistic bunch. Deal us a series of hardships and we can always look ahead to better times because those better times have always come.
With all due respect to Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, the railroad stocks may be the things that are unstoppable and not just the exaggerated Hollywood freight train story.
Transportation in 2011 will be a casualty in the war between Republicans and Democrats. Transportation projects are expensive and Congress in the past has committed huge sums to highway construction and maintenance, inland waterway development, and airport projects.
Railroads have long acknowledged the benefits offered by rail lubrication. But companies in the friction modifier market are continuing to make advances to help their railroad customers.
Writing a new chapter in an extraordinary success story.
Paul Tellier took Canadian National public with stunning success, Hunter Harrison’s Precision Railroading model took CN to performance levels that led many investment analysts to crown CN as the world’s finest freight railroad, and now Claude Mongeau, in command since Jan. 1, is taking steps to ensure that CN stays that way.
Sophisticated data collection methods, along with high-tech systems to read and interpret the data, help railroads maximize their assets. Railroads are both asset-intensive and capital intensive. Knowing where and in what conditions those assets are, from rolling stock to sticks of rail or stacks of ties, is a big job, but new systems help with that immense task to help plan short- and long-term operations and maintenance.
According to information in BNSF’s 10Q quarterly filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company paid a dividend of $250 million to Warren Buffett, its only stockholder. Some analysts immediately raised questions about the wisdom and size of the dividend payment.
High performance wheels can offer improved safety and an extended life cycle. Wheelset removals are the largest freight car maintenance expense item in North America, accounting for half of all car maintenance dollars. Wheel tread damage is the single largest cause of wheelset removals, and wheel wear is another major factor limiting wheelset life.
As New York Penn Station marks a century of service, planners are gearing up for the next 100 years. A century ago, the Pennsylvania Railroad was in the midst of one of the most expansive infrastructure capital programs in the history of the United States.
Current technology is not only more reliable, it’s highly intelligent. When it comes to grade crossings, protecting people and equipment is the top priority for all railroads. Suppliers are making that job easier by ensuring everything from the bells and lights to the communications mechanisms are all focused toward one goal: safety.