The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released its annual enforcement report summarizing the regulatory compliance inspections and audits conducted in the past fiscal year by FRA or state inspectors participating in FRA’s rail safety program, as well as the civil penalty enforcement actions arising from them.
Let’s admit it, and fix the expectation: U.S. Class I railroads have not experienced robust service recovery. Yet railroad optimism and expectations of satisfied customers persists. Why?
Construction is under way at MxV Rail’s new railroad testing facility at the PuebloPlex campus in Colorado, which is set to open this fall.
“The Class I railroads recognize that their recent service performance has not met many customers’ expectations,” the Association of American Railroads (AAR) wrote in a May 18 filing to the Surface Transportation Board (STB). But while the STB’s May 5 decision to release updated, more-comprehensive rules for reporting performance and employment metrics “reflects an understandable desire for quick action,” it was “not issued in a vacuum,” AAR pointed out.
U.S. carloads and intermodal units for the week ending May 14, 2022, were each down about 5% from the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads’ figures released May 18. It’s the 12th consecutive week of declines from the prior-year period.
Transport Canada has approved revisions to the Canadian Rail Operating Rules and the Locomotive Inspection and Safety Rules to reduce the risk of uncontrolled train movements.
Tomeka Watson Bryant on June 1 will be elevated to General Manager of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA).
U.S. diesel pricing remains elevated, passing along significant costs to shippers via fuel surcharges. At Cowen and Company, we believe sustained high diesel pricing will ultimately benefit the railroads and IMCs (intermodal marketing companies) as shippers explore different modes of transport.
The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure hearing, “Board Member Views on Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization,” was for the most part a rehash of the topics that the STB has been covering in its own hearings on freight rail service problems, reciprocal switching and other areas the industry has had to address in recent weeks. T&I Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who is not seeking re-election in this year’s mid-terms, and Railroad, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chair Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.) chaired the hearing, which in a press release was couched as “The Surface Transportation Board’s Role in Resolving Freight Rail Conflicts.”
Three bid respondents have qualified for the Port of Montreal’s Contrecœur container terminal project, which is slated to cost between C$750 million and C$950 million and begin operating by the end of 2026, the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) reported on May 6.
