Rail News

The operator of a fixed-day weekly container train recently launched between the Russian Far East and Moscow, which has handled just 1,800 TEUs to date, says heavy demand is leading it to consider doubling capacity with a second service.

A refrigerated rail provider has ended operations only five months after launching boxcar services between Selma, California, and Wilmington, Illinois, sending perishable shippers scrambling for transportation alternatives.

U.S. intermodal volume rose 2.2 percent year-over-year this week while a major metric of intermodal rail service stayed near flat in the same period.

The seven U.S.- and Canada-based Class I railroads told U.S. regulators they shouldn’t have to provide any more data on their operations than they are already sending unless the Surface Transportation Board begins a rule-making process.

WASHINGTON — A group opposing the reconstruction of a CSX Transportation tunnel in a Washington D.C. terminal that would allow the railroad to double-stack containers has filed a lawsuit challenging a federal decision to let the project proceed.

Combined growth among the 50 largest transportation and logistics companies worldwide slowed to a halt in 2013 amid global economic uncertainty. The combined revenue of the 50 companies slipped 0.1 percent after increasing 2.6 percent in 2012 and 8.4 percent in 2011.

North American intermodal volume growth will likely end the year with more than 5 percent growth over 2013, and will likely see similar-sized gains in 2015, according to the Intermodal Association of North America.

BNSF Railway profit in the third quarter rose nearly 4.7 percent to $1.03 billion, even as the company admitted service fell below customer standards and has lost market share.

Notable quotes from sources in news stories and analysis on JOC.com from Monday, Nov. 3 through Saturday, Nov. 8.

The Federal Highway Administration has approved a preferred construction alternative for CSX’s Virginia Avenue Tunnel project, paving the way for the 110-year-old, 4,000-foot tunnel to be reconstructed for double-stacking container services after intense pushback from local residents.

With the U.S. Weather Service forecasting a polar vortex will hit the eastern half of the country next week, a CSX executive said the railroads will be better prepared this year to operate in harsh winter conditions than they were last winter.

The activist investor who wrestled control of Canadian Pacific Railway in 2012 reignited speculation that the Calgary-based railroad would acquire a U.S. counterpart by suggesting Norfolk Southern Railway might be the next target.

Striking German locomotive drivers will return to work tomorrow evening, 36 hours earlier than planned, to avoid disrupting celebrations on Sunday to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

U.S. shippers appear to be diverting a second wave of intermodal cargo through Canadian ports, as congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach mounts.

Rail freight transport has ground to a halt throughout Germany as locomotive drivers stage a four-day strike against Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned railroad company.

U.S. domestic intermodal spot rate growth is beginning to slow, new data from third-party logistics provider IDS shows.

Canadian Pacific Railway doesn’t expect a “sharp seasonal peak” in intermodal volume this fall, even after seeing a modest bump in international intermodal traffic from diversions of U.S. West Coast traffic to Port Metro Vancouver and gaining domestic intermodal market share.

Union Pacific Railroad appears to be grabbing intermodal market share from its archrival, BNSF Railway.

BNSF Railway’s relatively new intermodal terminal in the Kansas City area has attracted another shipper and fueled speculative industrial warehouse construction.

Shippers’ hunger to move more loads from the highway to the rails is growing as they see more signs of tightening truck capacity, and resulting higher rates, C.H. Robinson said yesterday.

BNSF Railway told intermodal customers this week that it’s better prepared for the coming winter than it was last year, with more personnel ready and expanded storage capacity at Chicago area facilities.

U.S. shippers’ increasing difficulties in finding long-haul trucks to move their loads is making intermodal rail, including the transport of refrigerated goods, more a “capacity play” than about saving money.

JOC Senior Trucking Editor William Cassidy describes the current congestion crisis at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and its impact on inland distribution in this video from the JOC Inland Distribution Conference.

Fruit shippers in Central Washington hoping for refrigerated rail service to be reinstated at the Port of Quincy, Washington, have a long wait. After Cold Train suspended the reefer service, BNSF stopped any intermodal service to the port.

A higher surcharge on westbound-moving overweight containers imposed by Union Pacific Railroad this month is drawing fire from Midwest agriculture exporters.

Canadian Pacific Railway CEO E. Hunter Harrison sees railroad consolidation as possible and a way to greatly improve service, but the majority of his Class I counterparts aren’t on board.

Terminal congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was clearly on the minds of JOC.com readers again this week, with six of the Top 10 stories focusing on the issue.

Shippers and their logistics and transportation providers must collaborate, and not simply negotiate, if they hope to resolve a host of supply chain problems, starting with equipment, personnel and capacity shortages.

The Hub Group said poor U.S. rail service, chassis shortages and inadequate gate reservations at Union Pacific Railroad terminals cost it intermodal volume in the third quarter and doesn't expect rail service improvement until the spring of 2015.

Eurotunnel carried 6 percent more trucks and 9 percent more freight trains on its subsea rail tunnel between the U.K. and France in the third quarter compared to a year ago, with volume increases driven by the stronger British economy.

Western Pennsylvania intermodal shippers will soon get better access to CSX Transportation’s network when the railroad opens a Pittsburgh terminal, allowing it to better compete with its archrival, Norfolk Southern Railway, in the market.

Port congestion in Southern California is driving cargo to third-party logistics providers that have access to capacity from ocean and overland carriers, and the information technology systems to link these services together in an end-to-end supply chain solution, according to a 3PL executive.

U.S. shippers should expect higher intermodal rates in the coming year but not necessarily better service, two analysts said at the JOC Group’s 4th annual Inland Distribution Conference.

Norfolk Southern Railway said it is working to correct service problems that accompanies faster-than-expected 10 percent growth in intermodal volume during the third quarter.

Canadian National Railway said today that congestion at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex could cause U.S. shippers to divert cargo to western Canadian ports in three weeks, giving the railroad more intermodal business.

Canadian Pacific Railway CEO E. Hunter Harrison yesterday struck back at critics of potential rail industry consolidation, saying U.S. regulators could approve a merger and service would improve as a result.

Canadian Pacific Railway’s domestic intermodal push keeps gaining steam, with volume jumping 19 percent year-over-year in the third quarter and demand sometimes even exceeding the railroad’s capacity.

Canadian Pacific said its exploratory discussions with CSX Corp. about a possible merger have ended and that no further talks are planned.

Kansas City Southern Railway said it’s investing in its network at a higher rate than most other Class I railroads, as the company expects to increasingly handle more U.S.-Mexico cross-border intermodal, vehicle, crude oil and agriculture and mineral shipments.