KCS Reports Record Revenue for 3Q19
Kansas City Southern (KCS) reported record revenues of $747.7 million, an increase of 7% from third quarter 2018. Overall, carload volumes were flat compared to prior year.
Intermodal
UP Sets Quarterly OR Record
Union Pacific (UP) reported 3Q19 net income of $1.6 billion, or $2.22 per diluted share. This compares to $1.6 billion, or $2.15 per diluted share, in the same period last year.
CSX Sets Operating Ratio Record in 3Q19
CSX announced 3Q19 net earnings of $856 million, or $1.08 per share, versus $894 million, or $1.05 per share in the same period last year—an EPS increase of 3%. CSX’s operating ratio set a new company record of 56.8%, improved from 58.7% in the prior year.
VisioStack Partners With Chilean Railway
VisioStack Inc. has entered into an agreement with Grupo EFE to provide data management and analytics services. Grupo EFE, which is based in Santiago, Chile, provides both passenger and freight services throughout Chile, with its commuter rail service responsible for transporting more than 30 million passengers per year.
Short Lines: Custom, High-Growth Freight Service
Are short lines offering a better customer experience than Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR)? The Class I railroad business seems to be all about the benefits of PSR. That’s the name of a cost minimization business strategy introduced more than a decade ago at CN, now expanding as the service model at five of the other six large North American railroad companies (Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific). Class I’s annually earn more than a Federal Railroad Administration-set threshold of $500 million in revenues.
AAR: Make it 41 Straight Weeks of U.S. Traffic Downturn
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ended October 12, 2019, and it’s more of the same.
A&R Logistics Anchor Tenant at OmniTRAX’s SGIH
Affiliates of OmniTRAX, Inc. and The Broe Group have signed A&R Logistics, Inc. as anchor tenant at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub (SGIH), a master-planned, 2,750-acre industrial park owned by Effingham County Industrial Development Authority (ECIDA) with the capacity to accommodate up to 18 million square feet of industrial space.
J.B. Hunt 3Q19: PSR Helped—A Little
J.B. Hunt Transport’s (JBHT) third-quarter 2019 financials fell below expectations as, among other factors, “intermodal rail service appears to have improved, but not to the railroads’ goals associated with Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR),” according to Cowen and Company analysts Jason H. Seidl (Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor), Matt Elkott and Adam Kramer.
PHL Releases Showcase Video
Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) recently released a video showcasing its “commitment to its critical role in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as the first and last mile of the global economy.”
R.J. Corman Awarded Contract for Texas Logistics Park
R. J. Corman Switching Company, LLC was awarded a contract to be the switching and transloading provider for the 137-acre multi-modal Hempstead Logistics Park owned by McAlister Assets and operated by RCR Rail Co. The Union Pacific-served logistics park is in Hempstead, Texas, approximately 50 miles northwest of Houston, Texas.