The slugfest between Amtrak on one side and CSX, NS, and the Port of Mobile on the other, has been long. It has lasted for ten full days plus an afternoon so far, and reached its originally scheduled conclusion on Thursday, May 11. That was the half-day, following the morning appearance of Chair Martin J. Oberman and other members of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) before the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee.
The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program partners are bolstering STEM education in the Chicago, Ill., area with donations totaling $400,000. Also, Stockton (Calif.) Terminal and Eastern Railroad, a managed affiliate of OmniTRAX, presented a community donation to the Waterloo-Morada Fire District in honor of Pacific Northwest Oil.
BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) and Union Pacific (UP) have answered the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) call to submit service recovery plans—identifying the steps they will take to clear congestion and improve service plus the metrics they will use to evaluate progress over the next six months.
CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS), and the Alabama State Port Authority and its Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks division (collectively, the Port) are again requesting Surface Transportation Board (STB)-sponsored mediation as they “continue to believe that an amicable resolution is possible—one that facilitates a prompt and orderly commencement of Gulf Coast passenger service while protecting the customers and shipping partners that rely on quality freight rail service.”
Seoul, South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Group will invest $5.54 billion to open its first dedicated full electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing plant in the United States. It will be located in Bryan County, Ga., and served by Genesee & Wyoming’s Georgia Central Railway (GC).
“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. 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 witness phase of the slugout between Amtrak on one side and CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) and the Port of Mobile on the other, ended May 12 as its 11th day concluded. It ended not with T.S. Eliot’s oft-quoted “whimper” but truly with a bang.
Norfolk Southern (NS) President and CEO Alan H. Shaw on May 12 discussed his railroad’s top priority—the restoration of service “to the quality our customers expect and deserve”—at an annual meeting of
Norfolk Southern (NS) has published a report on the sustainability initiatives funded through its May 2021 issuance of $500 million in green bonds.
