KCS: Record 1Q revenue, operating ratio
Kansas City Southern has reported record first-quarter 2012 revenue of $548 million with carloads up 7% from first-quarter 2011.
news
CN revises outlook upward after strong quarter
CN late Monday, April 23, posted strong first quarter results, prompting the railroad to revise its outlook for the year upward.
CP: Pershing Square has “no plan and no ideas”
Following Canadian Pacific’s favorable first-quarter 2012 earnings report last week, Pershing Square Capital Management stepped up its attack on CP President and CEO Fred Green (pictured) and his management team with a strongly worded letter to shareholders that some industry observers are calling an obviously self-serving and misleading manipulation of numbers.
DOT seeking 100% “American” passenger cars
The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a $551 million Request for Proposals (RFP) for 130 new “standardized” bilevel passenger railcars for use on Amtrak’s intercity routes in California, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and potentially Iowa.
MBTA: On-board electronic ticketing
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Masabi US Ltd. said in a joint announcement April 23 that they will they will bring mobile ticketing to MBTA commuter rail riders this fall.
Rail employment rises across-the-board
U.S. Class I railroads employed 160,523 workers in mid-March, up 3% from March 2011 and 0.81% from February 2012.
GE Transportation reports strong revenue gain
Erie, Pa.-based GE Transportation Friday reported a “segment profit” of $232 million in the first quarter of 2012, up 48% from the same quarter a year ago. Revenue of $1.3 billion rose 41% measured against the first quarter of last year.
About Regan Smith and Furniture Row Racing
The Sprint Cup Series team that team that CSX Transportation has partnered with is unique in NASCAR. It’s the only Sprint Cup team headquartered west of the Mississippi River.
Amtrak, All Aboard Florida: We can co-exist
Far from being threatened by Florida East Coast Railway’s All Aboard Florida passenger rail proposal, Amtrak has signaled that the service would be welcomed, and even offer symbiotic benefits to the national rail passenger carrier.
CP trumpets 1Q earnings ahead of proxy battle
Canadian Pacific Railway early Friday announced stellar first-quarter net income of C$142 million, up C$108 million, or 318%, from the first quarter of 2011. Diluted earnings per share did nearly as well, at 82 Canadian cents per share for the first quarter, up 62 Canadian cents or 310% from a year ago.
U.S. carload freight down again, intermodal up
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending April 14, 2012 continued to fall short of 2011 levels, down 6.4% measured against the comparable week last year, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday.
UP 1Q profit up 35%
Union Pacific Thursday reported its first-quarter profit was $863 million, or $1.79 per share, in the first quarter of 2012, up dramatically from $639 million, or $1.29 per share, in the first quarter of 2011, and handily beating Wall Street expectations of $1.64 per share.
CN weighs acquiring Ontario Northern
CN Wednesday gave indications that it might be interested in purchasing Ontario Northern Railroad operations in whole or part.
Bombardier touts regional rail ERTMS application
Bombardier Transportation said Thursday it has delivered “the world’s first application of a European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) regional solution on the Västerdal line in Sweden.”
Denver RTD: Kiewit LRT bid “worthy”
Initially caught off-guard from an unsolicited bid March 8 by Kiewit Infrastructure Group to build a FasTracks light rail transit line, Denver’s Regional Tranportation District Wednesday said it has evaluated the bid, “and has found it worthy of moving forward to a competitive procurement process.”
BART declares “Buy America” intention
Faced with the need to replace what one official calls the oldest rapid transit cars “currently running in the country,” BART is readying a $3.2 billion order for 775 new cars which it hopes will be built and assembled in the U.S.
Commentary
What does William Ackman really want?
I have a general philosophy about hedge funds. I’ll trust them about as far as I can throw them. The way I see it, hedge funds have no business trying to be in the railroad business.
Oklahoma short line gets trackage rights
The Surface Transportation Board Wednesday announced approval of a trackage rights exemption sought be WFEC Railroad Co. “to grant limited nonexclusive overhead trackage rights to Kiamichi Railroad LLC (KRR), over its entire line” of roughly 15 miles.
CSX 1Q beats Street
Leading off Class I first-quarter 2012 earnings reports, CSX Corp. late Tuesday cited first-quarter net income of $449 million, or 43 cents per share. That handily beat Wall Street’s consensus analyst estimates of $395 million, or 35 cents per share.
LIRR to double-track Ronkonkoma line
Seeking to improve capacity and reduce scheduling conflicts, MTA Long Island Rail Road Tuesday said it plans to begin double-tracking 12.6 miles of LIRR’s Ronkonkoma Branch route between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma, N.Y., two years ahead of the previous schedule.