May 8, 200817 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS11/805080398/-1/NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published May 8, 2008 CSX terminal forecast to be a jobs magnet By DAVID PATCH BLADE STAFF WRITER BOWLING GREEN - While a planned CSX Transportation rail terminal near North Baltimore, Ohio, will employ only about 100 people, thousands more jobs will arrive when transportation-oriented businesses locate nearby, railroad representatives said yesterday during a briefing for Wood County and local officials. Full story at link above:
May 12, 200817 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS17/489545203 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published May 12, 2008 North Baltimore rail project may put Wood County village on track Spinoff businesses, jobs expected By JENNIFER FEEHAN BLADE STAFF WRITER NORTH BALTIMORE — A few years ago, North Baltimore was pumped and primed to bring new businesses to town. The village had tripled its water capacity by building a new reservoir and water tower. The Ohio Department of Transportation replaced and expanded the long-neglected interchange at I-75 and State Rt. 18. And, for the first time, North Baltimore hired a full-time administrator who could focus on economic development. Full sotry at URL above:
May 14, 200817 yr Author http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature1-5-14 May 13, 2008 Truckers reopen size-and-weight issue Five years ago, the American Trucking Associations and the Association of American railroads declared a "cease-fire" in their battle over truck size and weight limits on the nation's 46,000-mile Interstate Highway System. The truce won’t officially end until September 2009, but the ATA on May 8 launched a new "sustainable future" program that calls for, among other things, bigger and heavier trucks. Full story at link above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 14, 200817 yr Author Illinois' elected officials sure aren't popular these days with rail and transit industry folks. Check out Chicago RTA's comments today in the "what other states are doing" thread.... http://www.rtands.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature3-5-14 May 13, 2008 CN spokesman points out government’s role in causing rail congestion Canadian National Railway is getting a bum rap over its plan to acquire the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, CN spokesmen told the Elgin, Ill., Herald News. Opponents of the sale should look to government officials—not CN—to find blame, CN representatives said during a Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Full story at link above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 16, 200817 yr Rail stock prices hit new highs The stock prices of the nation's four largest railroads reached new 12-month highs in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Union Pacific achieved a new per-share high of $156.15 during the day, up from a previous record of $152.28; BNSF Railway climbed to $109.43 from $108.109; Norfolk Southern to $65.23 from $64.88; and CSX to $65.23 from $64.88. Full story at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
May 18, 200817 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/NEWS11/805180357 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published May 18, 2008 Metro area ripe for shift into global trade portal Chance may slip if action not taken, experts say By DAVID PATCH and ALEX PARKER BLADE STAFF WRITERS Local officials and developers have preached the same sermon for years: The Toledo area is ideally situated to become a major freight distribution center for the northeastern United States and southern Canada. Full story at link above:
May 18, 200817 yr ^ Related to the story above: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/NEWS11/805180301 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published May 18, 2008 Shipping container transformed world trade By DAVID PATCH BLADE STAFF WRITER "If you own it, a truck brought it." So goes a long-standing trucking industry slogan. But in these days of global production, chances are that most of the clothes in your closet, the shoes on your feet, the small appliances in your kitchen, and the electronics in your living room made portions of their factory-to-store journeys aboard ships - and probably trains too. Read more at link above:
May 19, 200817 yr Author Two related stories at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature1-5-19 May 16, 2008 Carload traffic climbs 5% on U.S. railroads U.S. railroads originated 337,103 carloads of freight in the week ended May 10, up 5%, led by sharp increases in grain traffic, which was up 18.2% from the corresponding week of 2007; coal, up 11.9%; and metallic ores, up 27.8%. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 16, 2008 Rail stock prices hit new highs The stock prices of the nation's four largest railroads reached new 12-month highs in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Union Pacific achieved a new per-share high of $156.15 during the day, up from a previous record of $152.28; BNSF Railway climbed to $109.43 from $108.109; Norfolk Southern to $65.23 from $64.88; and CSX to $65.23 from $64.88. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 22, 200817 yr Author http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature5-5-22 May 19, 2008 Senate bill would retain limits on truck sizes U.S. Senators Frank A. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) announced that they have introduced a bill "to keep dangerously heavy and large trucks off the nation's highways" by maintaining the current limit of 80,000 pounds for tractor trailers on the national highway system and establishing a maximum length of 53 feet for trucks. The "Safe Truck and Operations and Preservation Act of 2008" (STOP) responds to the efforts of a coalition of shippers, truckers and others to persuade Congress to include a number of pilot projects for increasing truck weights and lengths in the new transportation act due in 2009. More at URL above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 23, 200817 yr May 22, 2008 www.railwayage.com Four Class I's earn double-digit ROIs Four Class I railroads posted double-digit returns on investment in the 12 months ended March 31. The seven Class I railroads as a group had an ROI of 9.76% in the latest 12-month period, based on total operating revenue of $56.5 billion and net railway operating income of $7.05 billion. For the 12 months ended March 31, 2006, the Class I's earned 10.15%, with revenues of $50.3 billion and operating income of $7.45 billion. http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
May 23, 200817 yr How this for fuel mileage? Contact: Tom White (202) 639-2556 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Railroad Fuel Efficiency Sets New Record Baltimore to Boston on One Gallon of Diesel Fuel WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 — What's more fuel efficient than the newest hybrid car? A freight train. And last year, freight railroads were more fuel efficient than ever. In 2007, major freight railroads in the United States moved a ton of freight an average of 436 miles on each gallon of fuel. This represents a 3.1 percent improvement over 2006 and an astonishing 85.5 percent improvement since 1980. "That's the equivalent of moving a ton of freight all the way from Baltimore to Boston on just a single gallon of diesel fuel," said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. He noted that thanks to railroads' fuel efficiency gains, since 1980 freight railroads have reduced fuel consumption by 48 billion gallons and carbon dioxide emissions by 538 million tons. Hamberger pointed out that railroads are three or more times more fuel efficient than trucks, adding: “In fact, if just 10 percent of the freight currently moving by truck went instead by rail, the nation could save one billion gallons of fuel per year." Moving more freight by rail does more than just reduce fuel consumption and pollution, he said. It also reduces highway congestion. "A single intermodal train can take 280 trucks off the highways. And because the average size of a truck is equal to almost four automobiles, that's the same amount of space that 1,100 automobiles would occupy." Railroads are taking concrete steps to further reduce fuel consumption and emissions. "Railroads and their suppliers have developed technologies that reduce the need to idle locomotives when not operating” said Hamberger. “They have developed new hybrid and "gen-set" locomotives that also reduce both fuel consumption and emissions in rail yards. And they are working to develop new hybrid locomotives and fuel cell locomotives that have promise to bring further improvements in both areas." http://www.aar.org/Index.asp?NCID=4223
May 29, 200817 yr US rail network facing congestion 'calamity' May 29, 1:57 PM (ET) By MICHAEL TARM CHICAGO (AP) - Railway executive Matthew Rose stood before fellow industry leaders, pointing to a map meant to tell the future of the U.S. rail freight network. It was drenched in red - east to west, north to south. On the Net: Federal Railroad Administration: http://www.fra.dot.gov Surface Transportation Board: http://www.stb.dot.gov Transportation Research Board: http://www.trb.org Association of American Railroads: http://www.aar.org Chicago congestion plan: http://www.createprogram.org http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080529/D90VEUH81.html
May 30, 200817 yr Railroads Roll With a Greener Approach Industry Makes Case That Switch to Trains Is More Eco-Friendly By ALEX ROTH May 29, 2008; Page B7 A new CSX Corp. radio ad declares that even the most fuel-efficient hybrid car can't compete with a train, which "can move a ton of freight 423 miles on a single gallon of fuel." More at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121202944363728389.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today
June 1, 200817 yr Author http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/05/31/norfolk-southern-in-the-era-of-record-oil-prices-the-railroads/ Norfolk Southern: In the era of record oil prices, the railroads are roaring Posted May 31st 2008 2:10PM by Joseph Lazzaro Filed under: Stocks to Buy, Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) Readers of this space know that one of the preferred sectors is the railroad sector. The once near-rust-belt level sector has experienced a revival at the start of the globalization age, and compelling economic trends document the commerce-based underpinnings of this revival. Full story at URL above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 1, 200817 yr I've put it on Buy, with a target of $72. NS is doing great things to expand its capacity. The Heartland Corridor project runs from Newport News, VA to Chicago, IL and involves the upgrading of the line to allow double-stacked containers, installing fiber-optics throughout (removing any dark zones), double-tracking where needed or installing sidings, daylighting or expanding tunnels... West Virginia and western Virginia are the holdouts, and there are contracts throughout for construction at the moment. It's really exciting! In Prichard, WV, they are constructing a very large intermodal center (~15 miles south of Interstate 64, ~17 miles south of the Ohio River, and near Huntington). Containerized goods can travel via NS, the adjacent Big Sandy River (it is navigable north to the Ohio), or via highway (US 52, which is part of the Interstate 73/74 corridor and is slowly being upgraded to four-lanes). Just the installment of an industrial park about ten years ago has created almost 500 jobs alone, and the intermodal center will surely bring more.
June 11, 200817 yr Some interesting factoids about U.S. railroads...and a good story (see the link) about why capacity needs to be increased: Rail facts • The first North American railroad was chartered by Baltimore merchants in 1827. The golden age of railroads began around 1865, when there was about 35,000 miles of track. It peaked in 1916 at 250,000 miles. • As the trucking industry boomed in the 1950s, there was a rash of bankruptcies in the railway industry, lasting into the 1970s. Deregulation in the 1980s forced scores of mergers and helped bring the industry back. • Today, trains move more than 2 billion tons of freight a year on 140,000 miles of track, nearly all of it privately owned and maintained. • Coal accounts for more than 40 percent of all freight transported by train. • In 1929, the average freight train had around 50 cars, with about 800 tons of freight. Now, an average train has about 70 cars and carries more than 3,000 tons of freight. • Railway companies employ nearly 200,000 people; the average salary is around $70,000. • Nine companies account for more than 90 percent of all North American railway revenue, or more than $50 billion. The five largest are Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation and Canadian National Railway. Sources: Federal agencies, Association of American Railroads http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/06/11/Rail_Congestion.ART_ART_06-11-08_C8_JKAF5Q4.html?sid=101 And an updated figure from the AAR: The average freight train now hauls 1-ton of freight 435-miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel.
June 22, 200816 yr NS's Moorman: The renaissance is real Railwayage.com Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman says there's growing evidence that "the transportation marketplace has changed fundamentally in ways that favor the railroad business. . . . We think there is more change on the way," he added in a presentation at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York. More at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
June 25, 200816 yr Author June 24, 2008 AAR urges Congress to aid rail capacity expansion Testifying Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, addressing the issues of climate change and transportation, Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger urged Congress to pass legislation allowing the rail industry to bolster capacity, noting railroads already are an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient option. Full story at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature1-6-25 "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 8, 200816 yr Author http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature1-7-8 July 7, 2008 Investor’s Business Daily remains bullish on rails Investors Business Daily (IBD) says that at the end of this year’s first half, railroad stocks ranked No. 14 among the 197 industry groups it follows. “The rail boom that began five yeas ago shows no signs of derailing with most railroads racking up double-digit earnings growth," said IBD in a July 3 report. It quoted Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman as characterizing the railroad story as “a tale of two economies.” While shipments of consumer goods, motor vehicles, and construction materials continue to decline, demand for coal, corn, grain, and soybeans “keeps soaring,” and “railroads haul much of it.” Full story at URL above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 10, 200816 yr JP Morgan upgrades Norfolk Southern JP Morgan Securities has taken a new look at Norfolk Southern’s second-quarter prospects and likes what it sees—so it has upgraded NS stock from “neutral” to “overweight.” Rising export coal volumes as well as loads shifted from trucks are expected to help produce strong results for the railroad, said the investment company. Export coal is a high-profit item, and JP Morgan expects it will account for 12% of all NS coal shipments this year. NS stock was up around 3% in trading Thursday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 10, 2008 Hoffa weighs in against bigger trucks Congress is taking a new look at truck weight and size limits, and Teamsters President James Hoffa was among the first to weigh in on the issue. “Bigger trucks are more dangerous trucks,” Hoffa said as a House subcommittee opened hearings July 9. “Lifting truck weight and size limits would turn big rigs into time bombs.” Hoffa’s union represents 140,000 truck drivers, some of whom are already operating double- or triple-trailer rigs in states where they are permitted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 10, 2008 Rail traffic up slightly as second half begins The beginning of the second half of 2008 was marked by a slight increase in U.S. rail freight volume. Carload traffic totaled 286,242 cars in the week ended July 5, up 1.1% from the same week last year. Both weeks included the July 4th holiday. Intermodal volume in the latest week was up 0.8% from a year ago to 194,136 trailers and containers. Total volume for the week ended July 5 was estimated at 30.0 billion ton-miles, up 2.0% from the 27th week of 2007. More on all three stories at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
July 10, 200816 yr Author Here's some awfully telling maps. The maps start with traffic levels measured in gross tons of freight per year... Railroads reduced infrastructure by eliminating the second track on rail corridors (and in some cases entire rail corridors). It lowered their costs and made them more competitive, causing their traffic to grow. Yet railroads as an industry barely earn their cost of capital which limits their ability to add capacity. Hence the need for significant public investment.... Double-tracked routes in 1980: Double-tracked routes in 2005: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 13, 200816 yr The current issue of Trains has an article about how CSX has begun and infrastructure project to compete with NS' "Heartland Corridor. The project is tied in with CSX's new intermodal yard by Rickenbacker airport in Columbus, eliminating the bottleneck through Greenwich, Ohio as well as other projects in Ohio. Each new terminal will create approximately 2,000 jobs "by luring reailer to locate distribution centers nearby" So far, Ohio is the only state that has committed to assist with the project. CSX president Michael Ward says: "Ohio is a key area for logistics development..." Good news for Ohio's economy.
July 13, 200816 yr KJP, it's kind of a bum out to learn that railways can barely recover their cost of capital from expansions of the rail system.
July 13, 200816 yr Unfortunately, there are reasons why states had to give RR massive amounts of subsidies in terms of land and tax breaks to get the system built out.
July 13, 200816 yr This land grant issue is a non-starter in my opinion. Only 5-10% of the 240,000 mile US rail network was built by this means. All the rest was done through private financing and once these lines were built, railroads had to pay taxes on them. In addition to that, the railroads were obligated to carry mail and troops either for free or at a very low rate. I seem to recall that by the time the railroads were allowed to charge what it cost to move the mail they had lost about $132 million (in 1944 dollars). On top of that, railroads had an army of workers and facilities dedicated to the movement of mail. Uncle Sugar didn't pay a nickel for that. What IS true is that the government had to issue land grants to settle the west. It would not have happened otherwise. Fast forward to 1967. The railroads' passenger service, while fraying at the edges, was still a going concern until the US postal service, now being run by a former airline exec, took the mail off the trains. Because of this, what was a slow decay became a rout as hard-pressed railroads dropped train after train in order get out of the passenger business as fast as possible. The mail was the railroads' hidden subsidy. Once that was gone it was "game over."
July 14, 200816 yr Author Note that I identified the second two maps on the previous page. Sorry, I'd forgotten to do that when I posted them. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 14, 200816 yr Those maps are really a tribute to the rail industry, which has dramatically increased tonnage while reducing physical plant. They have carried this about as far as they can and are now having to invest in new tracks and signaling. Note the BNSF between Chicago and LA. They've almost closed the last gap and made the railroad double track all the way. Likewise, UP is slowly adding second track on its LA-El Paso route. Still, the investment is not keeping up with demand. A solution has to be found, most likely some sort of public-pribvate partnership.
July 15, 200816 yr J.B. Hunt shifts more truckloads to rail RailwayAge.com With the price of a gallon of diesel fuel ranging between $4.75 and $5.00, truckers are shifting more of their loads to rail for the long haul. This is reflected in the second-quarter earnings statement of J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT), which said that a 28% increase in intermodal revenue, to $496 million, was a major factor in a 17% increase in total revenue to $977 million, compared to the same quarter last year. Full story at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
July 28, 200816 yr http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92633264 Plan To Unsnarl Chicago Rail Hits Snags In Suburbs by David Schaper Morning Edition, July 28, 2008 · A "calamity," a "rail meltdown" and "chaos in the supply chain" — those are all ways transportation experts and executives describe the state of railroad congestion in Chicago. "And it's only going to get worse," adds another. Railroad companies say it takes a freight train about two days to travel from the West Coast to Chicago — but the same train sometimes needs another two days just to get through the city. Full story at the URL above:
July 29, 200816 yr It was this kind of congestion in Cincinnati in the 1870s that cost the city leadership in the post-war fight for urban supremacy (among a number of issues).
July 29, 200816 yr It is also this kind of congestion that stands in the way of projects like the Chicago-hubbed Midwest Regional Rail System and those portions of the Ohio Hub Plan that connect to Chicago.
August 5, 200816 yr Ohio Central Railroad sold http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS01/80804019&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL A Connecticut-based railroad said today it has acquired the Coshocton-based Ohio Central Railroad System for $219 million in cash. Full story at link above:
August 5, 200816 yr I didn't see that coming. I wonder what effect it will have on future use of OCR's excursion rolling stock, especially steam.
August 5, 200816 yr With all the gridlock going on in cities, how are they supposed to expand service if all the land is developed around them? Will we see a trend like the interstate system in the 50s where new tracks will have to run through existing communities, uprooting businesses and residents for new routes? I don't know the solution but this could get ugly unless other ideas come about. https://www.instagram.com/cle_and_beyond/https://www.instagram.com/jbkaufer/
August 5, 200816 yr Eminent domain. But railroad ROWs take up far less space. One track and ROW is the equivalent of two lanes of roadway and some shoulder (35').
August 5, 200816 yr Author Consider the new single-track tunnel in Switzerland will handle more than 100 freight and passenger trains per day. Consider that one freight train hauls the same amount of cargo as 150-250 trucks, and one double-deck passenger train like a TGV Duplex hauls 1,000 people, removing more than 800 cars from the road. Let's assume that the rail traffic is 50/50 freight/passenger... Over a 24-hour period, that single railroad track could take 7,500 to 12,500 trucks and more than 40,000 cars off the road. If you double-tracked the railroad, you'd more than double the capacity. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 6, 200816 yr Big news on the O-C being sold. Knew something was up, but didn't know the buyer until now.
August 6, 200816 yr Coshocton newspaper seems to be a little off on the sale price of the Ohio Central...the Columbus Dispatch reports it as much higher. Coshocton-based railroads sell for $219 million Tuesday, August 5, 2008 3:01 AM COSHOCTON, Ohio -- Freight railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. has agreed to buy the Ohio Central Railroad System, based in Coshocton, for $219 million in cash, the companies said yesterday. Full story at: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS01/808050312/1002
August 7, 200816 yr Another consequence of growing freight rail traffic...note the numbers for increased trains to be generated by the new Rickenbacker Internodal Yard. Crossing violators tracked Train ride catches 3 drivers flouting rail alerts Thursday, August 7, 2008 3:25 AM By Tim Doulin THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The gates to halt traffic came down as the train rolled down the track toward the crossing on Fairwood Avenue at Refugee Road. That didn't stop a black Jaguar from whipping around the gates to beat the train to the crossing. More at: http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/07/RAILCORRIDOR.ART_ART_08-07-08_B1_D0AV7GV.html?print=yes&sid=101
August 11, 200816 yr August 8, 2008 Domestic intermodal grows at highest rate in four years Railway Age Magazine The Intermodal Association of North America reports that during the second quarter of 2008, domestic intermodal volume grew at its highest rate since the second quarter of 2004. During the 2008 quarter, volume was 5.4% higher than in the comparable 2007 quarter, said IANA in its Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report. IANA said it was the 11th straight quarter that domestic container volume posted year-over-year increases. Container volume grew 8.1% during the quarter, while trailer volume increased 1%. Full story at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml
August 12, 200816 yr Author This is tremendous news. I remember in the 1980s when their ROI was about 4 percent.... http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature4-8-12 August 11, 2008 Class I return on investment rises to 10.53% Class I railroads earned a 10.53% return on investment (ROI) in the 12 months ended June 30, up from 8.56% a year ago. Railway operating revenue totaled $58.1 billion vs. $50.7 billion in the 12 months ended June 30 2007, net railway operating income was $8.1 billion vs. $7.0 billion, and net income totaled $7.1 billion vs. $6.0 billion. Full story at URL above: "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 20, 200816 yr ROANOKE REGION INTERMODAL FACILITY PROJECT ADVANCES: The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) today issued a Notice to Proceed to Norfolk Southern Railway, authorizing the railroad to initiate construction of the Roanoke Region Intermodal Facility at the Elliston site in Montgomery County, Va. Read more at: http://railpace.com/hotnews/
August 20, 200816 yr RAND Corp. study says railroad capacity is public concern The volume of freight transported in the United States is expected to double over the next 30 years. Greater use of rail freight could allow the supply chain to accommodate this increase while minimizing highway congestion and reducing fuel consumption. A new study by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, provides insight into railroad capacity and performance measures. It finds that while U.S. railroads have notably improved their productivity during the past three decades, continued incremental improvements may be insufficient to handle a large increase in freight volume. Full story at: http://www.rtands.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature4-8-20
August 20, 200816 yr Author Interesting that the UPS foundation helped fund it.... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 5, 200816 yr Figured UOers would appreciate this Norfolk Southern commercial. I guess it's a year old and maybe many of you have already seen it but I just saw it for the first time today. http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/video/lonelygallon.wmv
September 5, 200816 yr NS' commercials were great when they ran with frequency. GE's commercials were really nice as well. If you get a chance, take the time to view the making of that commercial. It was more complicated than I thought!
September 5, 200816 yr Author For the first 35 years of my life, I NEVER saw a TV commercial for a freight railroad. Very rarely would I see one for Amtrak. Now I see both pretty frequently. Of course growing up with just six TV channels and now having more than 200 has a little something to do with that. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
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