The Greenbrier Companies announced March 22 that it had received orders for 3,800 new railcars with an aggregate value of nearly $450 million during its fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 28. At the same time, the company announced preliminary financial results for its fiscal second quarter.
The World Economic Forum’s most recent Regional Risks of Doing Business report lists cyberattacks as the top concern of corporate executives in 19 countries, including advanced economies in North America, Europe, and Asia. These concerns, according to the report, “highlight the growing reliance of global commerce on digital networks that are the target of increasingly sophisticated and prolific attacks.”
As railways push ahead with digitalization, more and more are engaging and implementing solutions from a new form of supplier: the tech start-up. This is changing the railway-supplier relationship and altering the industry’s wider approach to innovation, as IRJ’s Kevin Smith discovers.
North American carload and intermodal traffic again declined compared to 2018, according to figures for the week ending March 16, 2019 released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) on March 20.
Strategic Rail Finance (SRF) has named rail industry veteran Carl Belke as Executive Consultant in the firm’s Freight Rail Business Advisory practice. Belke has 45 years of freight rail experience in management, strategy, engineering, operations, government advocacy and public policy.
BNSF is engaged in service recovery efforts in multiple areas across its network in the northern and central Plains following another major winter storm. Blizzard conditions, with wind gusts to near 70 mph in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have caused significant train delays since March 14. With the temperature rising, BNSF is now confronting major flooding issues in the region, particularly in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, as multiple subdivisions are currently out of service due to track washouts.
North American carload and intermodal traffic continued to decline compared to 2018, according to figures for the week ending March 9, 2019, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on March 13.
Railway Age honors the Louisville & Indiana Railroad Company and the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad as its 2019 Short Line (Class III) and Regional (Class II) Railroads of the Year. Both carriers will be recognized at the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association Connections Convention in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday, April 9.
One of the North American railway industry’s most valuable assets is the vast amount of institutional knowledge held by its people. Railroading, freight or passenger, is a complex undertaking, from many angles. We owe these young people, and countless others like them, the best of who and what we are. Railway Age and Nick Little, Director of Railway Education at Michigan State University’s Center for Railway Research and Education, have selected our Fast Trackers–10 Under 40 honorees. These rising industry stars are making an impact in their respective fields, and represent the “best of the best.”
Rail freight traffic for the month of February 2019 and the week ending March 2, 2019 declined, according to Association of American Railroads figures.
