Bend, Don’t Break: Last year we tracked a domestic intermodal surge on BNSF and used it as an example of the Bend-Don’t-Break playbook, which acknowledges that railroads will naturally slow under volume
On April 30, 2024, the Surface Transportation Board issued a decision that introduces narrow-scope reciprocal switching into the U.S. freight rail industry. That decision prescribes that two supporting data sets for trains
Hurricane Survival Mode: We now have operating data for the week of Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. It encapsulates most of the damage from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida late
The STB hearing on U.S. Class I volume growth—or lack thereof—shined a spotlight on this important issue, and before that spotlight fades and we get back to the business of not growing,
Covering the railroads for a long time does strange things to a person. We were glued to The Weather Channel, with Hurricane Helene’s Category 4 track resulting in a direct hit on
We’ve apparently been in a freight recession for two years now, but rail intermodal is having a strong growth year, aided by an easy comp against 2023, which was the weakest year
We’re always on the lookout for good news and last week we highlighted the strong recent improvement in BNSF terminal dwell. And with dual lockouts at CN and CPKC, we were curious
We heavily scrutinize operating metrics during, and on the back of, the four major public holidays during the year (Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving) due to the beneficial network
Railroad volume growth has been scarce over the past two years, but it has shown up—primarily in the form of international intermodal—so far in 2024. The chart below consolidates loads for the
Tough May weather in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana plunged Union Pacific’s (UP) network velocity to a five-year low of 22.7 mph in the week ending June 7 and, after a modest uptick