For the week ending Jan. 16, 2016, total U.S. rail traffic was 506,433 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.2% compared with the same week in 2015, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Jan. 20. U.S. carloads fell nearly 17%; Canadian carloads dropped nearly 14%; North American (U.S., Canada, Mexico combined) intermodal up nearly 1%.
For the week ending Jan. 9, 2016, total U.S. rail traffic was 498,160 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.7% compared with the same week in 2015, as carload traffic dipped and intermodal grew, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Jan. 13.
The nation’s top freight rail representative, Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger, said Jan. 13, 2016 that the industry will be targeting several key issues in the new year, such as maintaining balanced economic regulation at the Surface Transportation Board (STB), extending the short line tax credit while laying the groundwork for overall tax reform and advancing security-safety legislation or regulation. With freight rail companies facing a deadline later this month to provide the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) with plans to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline technology, the AAR reaffirmed the industry’s stance that the technology will be fully installed where required by 2018 and all testing for full coast-to-coast operations completed by 2020.
In 2015, the Railway Supply Institute, Inc. (RSI) advocated quite heavily against keeping truck size and weight from increasing. And it was successful on both accounts. Now, according to RSI’s Nicole Brewin, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, intercity passenger rail funding outside of the appropriations process is big on the association’s 2016 agenda.
Working within the up-to five-year extension Congress granted in late 2015, the Association of American Railroads has set year-end 2016 goals for Positive Train Control implementation.
In reporting rail traffic for all of 2015, Association of American Railroads (AAR) Senior Vice President John T. Gray said, “Weaknesses in energy and manufacturing, as well as, world economic softening had a negative impact on both carload and intermodal traffic in 2015.”
The Association of American Railroads, in reporting rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 26, 2015 (week 51), noted that total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 391,107 carloads and intermodal units, down 9.8% compared with the same week in 2014. Total carloads for the week, pushed by a near-32% drop in coal, nosedived 17.9% to 206,903, compared with the same week in 2014, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 184,204 containers and trailers, up 1.6%—not nearly enough to stop the bleeding.
For the week ending Dec. 19, 2015, total U.S. rail traffic was 525, 555 carloads and intermodal units, down 9.5% compared with the same week in 2014, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Dec. 23. U.S. carloads fell nearly 15%; Canadian carloads dropped nearly 14%; North American (U.S., Canada, Mexico combined) intermodal down 4.3%.
Canadian National Railway (CN) announced Dec. 18, 2015 that more than 1,500 first responders along its rail network have downloaded the AskRail mobile app to access real-time information about the contents of rail cars in their communities.
Top executives from three Class I railroads will be speaking at the 246th meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers (MARS) on Jan. 13–14, 2016, which will be held at Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Ill.