Rail News

The US Surface Transportation Board is reviewing a petition for unconditional approval of CN’s purchase of 230 miles of track, known as the Massena Lines in upstate New York, from CSX Transportation.

Union Pacific Railroad blames volatile swings in volume for congestion in Los Angeles in June, but intermodal marketing companies say it remains difficult to find space on trains because of a surge in e-commerce business.

After wild swings in intermodal volume in the second quarter, CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad are cautiously optimistic about peak season volumes, while realizing pandemic disruptions are lurking.

Railroads will have to rethink how they move freight if the American workplace permanently shifts from centralized city offices to telecommuting in homes.

With COVID-19 flare-ups endangering reopenings across the country, the road to recovery for US shippers and transportation providers will likely look more like a mountain switchback than a sharp incline.

Intermodal shippers are increasingly putting pressure on 3PLs to waive container fees as a precondition for business amid the coronavirus-linked recession.

Spot rates have jumped more than 40 percent in the last four weeks for shippers using rail-owned boxes out of Los Angeles due to an equipment shortage in Southern California unseen since 2018.

Mexican businesses and their US and Canadian partners are focused on rebuilding supply chains shattered by COVID-19 and the recession, but they shouldn’t forget USMCA.

BNSF Railway has unveiled a five-day per week train service between Seattle and CSX’s Ohio hub about an hour south of Toledo.

Moving refrigerated perishables by rail provides logistics providers with untapped market share potential if they can wade through a number of challenges, mostly linked to service.

The focus of IPI has been moving away from the US West Coast toward the East Coast and Western Canada. This has big implications for individual railroads, but also broader impacts regarding shorter length of haul and diminishing industry revenue per move.

Intermodal is not seeing the same rebound in demand as trucking since the economic shutdown owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and research firm FTR Associates does not believe containerized rail volume will fully recover to 2019 levels until sometime in 2021.

Europe’s rail freight industry is hoping to hold on to improvements made in reliability on a passenger-free network even as the easing of lockdowns bring back traveler movements that are afforded priority over cargo.

Domestic intermodal volume in April suffered its worst month in eight years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with intermodal marketing companies saying May might end as poorly, if not worse.

Expectations for capacity, demand, and pricing across transportation modes in 2020 have been shattered by the COVID‑19 pandemic, resulting in recession.

Forces have been set in motion that will slowly, but inexorably, change the supply chain status quo in myriad ways, most notably where freight is coming from and where it is going.

A refrigerated rail service sold by Union Pacific Railroad to shippers has shut down amid the COVID-19 downturn in volumes and competition from rival BNSF Railway and other large IMCs.

JOC’s Spot Intermodal Savings Index hit an 14-month low in a preliminary April reading, the first snapshot of how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the math on how much money intermodal can save a shipper.

Norfolk Southern Railway insists that no matter how far truck rates fall, it will not chase the market down by providing unsustainable rates to shippers, but rather focus on innovative ideas such as mixed trains.

A new international distribution center in Houston blends US trucking and containerized imports as less-than-truckload carrier Averitt reaches deeper into US consumer markets.

North American intermodal volume may plunge as much as 25 percent in the second quarter, so railroads believe the right strategy is to focus on cost-cutting while providing reliable service.

Even in a situation as bad as the COVID-19 lockdown, there may be opportunity for domestic intermodal if the US Class I railroads can seize it — as they did following the Great Recession.

Intermodal volume last week was the weakest in a nearly a decade as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has wreaked havoc on the railroads, which an industry analyst believes could cost Class I railroads $9 billion dollars.

With much of the air freight capacity limited on routes to and from China, and more than 30 percent of the ocean capacity canceled, shippers are making greater use of rail services amid pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.

Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority this year will feel the declining revenue effects of the economic recession projected to impact Los Angeles and Long Beach and all North American ports.

Although the economy had a fairly good head of steam coming into the crisis, its heavy reliance on the consumer will make it particularly vulnerable to the pullback in consumer spending that will result from the changes wrought by the coronavirus.

With much of the ocean capacity withdrawn on the Asia–Europe trades, rail capacity is being quickly filled with Chinese export cargo as factories in China get back to work following coronavirus-related closures.

Domestic intermodal volumes rose in January year on year, but there is little else for intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) to feel good about right now.

The developer of a Texas industrial park scheduled to open in early 2021 says it will work with Kansas City Southern of Mexico to offer a shorter, cheaper way for Mexican manufacturers to ship goods to Houston and other Texas markets.

Non-asset intermodal providers want railroads to be more lenient on container charges and late fees when bidding for shipper business in order to become more competitive with the likes of J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

Railroads are more conciliatory in negotiating contract rates than a year ago, hungry to recapture freight lost to trucking. One logistics executive called the railroads’ stance “a complete 180 from last year.”

Just-in-time inventory pressures are creating more less-than-truckload shipments, giving Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway an opportunity to accelerate their domestic intermodal volume growth.

There are no positives to be found in the Intermodal Association of North America’s latest market report, which shows year-over-year volume fell 7.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 4.1 percent for the full year, with declines in all types of containers.

Amid weak intermodal volumes in 2019, the JOC Domestic Intermodal Savings Index shows spot and contract savings are lower than historical averages, although the year closed stronger for shipper savings on the spot market.

A rush to secure space on trains leaving China could be looming amid coronavirus-related disruptions to air and ocean schedules. Shippers have been advised to plan capacity early.

Railroads and intermodal providers say there will be more volume in 2020 than last year, although shipper demand will not fully recover until the second half of this year.

Union Pacific Railroad will resume service on nearly 60 previously eliminated lanes beginning Feb. 1, a move it linked to its precision scheduled railroading operation, but others said was designed to win back lost market share.

Despite stiff truck competition, East Coast ports have taken aggressive steps to capture more intermodal cargo and spend significant capital to build out rail infrastructure.

The migration of North American import cargo from west to east has been accelerating, a trend that could have negative implications for Inland Point Intermodal (IPI).

Despite Mexico’s sluggish economy, the intermodal sector could see benefits in 2020 from the expected implementation of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement and new rail services.