Finance/Leasing

Railway Age 10 Under 40 Awards Open for Entries

Railway Age is now accepting entries for its fourth annual “Fast Trackers” 10 Under 40 awards, in which we will profile ten individuals under the age of 40 who have made an impact in their respective fields or within their company. Nick Little, Director of Railway Education at Michigan State University’s Center for Railway Research and Education, will judge the entries. Those that represent the “best of the best” will be featured in Railway Age’s February 2020 issue and recognized at our Railroader of the Year Dinner, March 10, 2020, at the Union League Club of Chicago.

Railroad KPIs Suggest Continuing Weakness

KPIs are shorthand for linked Key Performance Indicators. Not all railroad industry KPIs are internalized data. In fact, the best KPIs come from non-railroad sources. Internal railroad data is important. But its value appears when cross-checked with other sources. Here, the prime research source is the Association of American Railroads (AAR) monthly report card.

Thompson Joins MUL Railcars

Phillip W. Thompson has joined MUL Railcars, Inc. (MULR), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (MUL), as Vice President Business Development. Thompson comes to MULR from his most recent role as a Director in the Capital Markets group of Trinity Rail, where during eight years he held various roles in finance, strategy, capital markets and services. In his new role at MULR, Thompson is responsible for investment and services strategy, portfolio management and general management activities.

Takeaways, Locomotive and Railcar Conference Call: Cowen

According to Cowen and Company freight transportation analysts Jason Seidl (Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor), Matt Elkott and Adam Kramer, inquiries about new railcars appear to have risen slightly in the past month, while locomotive modernizations should remain solid, in the midst of a continuing weak new-build market. Industry-wide Precision Scheduled Railroading implementation has not been tested in a volume growth environment.

CNGMotive Moves to the Next Level

Following seven years of painstaking research and development, CNGMotive, Inc., has rolled out the rail industry’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) locomotive fuel tender. The company co-founded in 2015 by David I. Scott and Pedro Santos has partnered with Norfolk Southern for a revenue service test. Kasgro Rail Corp. of New Castle, Pa., best known for building and operating Schnabel railcars, constructed the tender, which externally looks something like a combination of an intermodal well car and hi-cube boxcar. The Hale Hamilton Valves Ltd. business unit of U.K.-based CIRCOR provided the CNG pressure reduction and control systems.

Rail Equipment Positioning Amid a Market Selloff: Cowen

A looming U.S. economic recession—just look at freight rail traffic figures from the past six months—and “cyclical industrial fears” have significantly impacted rail equipment equities, creating opportunities for long-term investors with what Cowen and Company analysts Matt Elkott, Jason Seidl (Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor) and Adam Kramer describe as “quality companies with self-forged narratives” like Wabtec, Trinity and Greenbrier.

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