For the week ending April 9, 2022, total U.S. rail traffic was down 1.0% from the same week last year; carloads came in 1.4% higher while intermodal volume dipped 3.1%, according to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) April 13 report.
As part of a special series in Railway Age’s March 2022 issue, 11 North American railroad CEOs address what must be done to grow and gain market share from competing freight transportation modes. Ian Jefferies, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, is the 10th to share his perspective.
Call it a “Marty Party” scheduled for April 26-27 at which CEOs of the four largest U.S.-headquartered railroads will be placed as frogs on a lily pad in a lake of pain to be grilled as suspects in the offense of failing to provide adequate service to shippers.
Operation and maintenance of the Pueblo, Colo.-based Transportation Technology Center (TTC) began transitioning to ENSCO, Inc., this week, with completion slated for October.
“March was another mixed month for U.S. rail volumes,” Association of American Railroads’ Senior Vice President John T. Gray noted in an April 6 AAR report; it was the “best month ever” for carloads of chemicals, but down were carloads of grain, and petroleum and paper products, among others.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is inviting public comment on a Petition for Rulemaking that would update the demurrage and accessorial rules governing the railroads’ use and handling of privately owned freight cars. Responses are due by June 30, 2022.
U.S. Class I railroads hauled 504,817 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending March 26, 2022, falling 3.2% from the prior-year period. This is based on 233,555 carloads—up 0.5% from 2021—and 271,262 containers and trailers—down 6.2%, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on March 30.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) now has 11 weeks of rail traffic data for 2022 (ending March 19). Total carload and intermodal traffic fell 4% in North America—dropping 2.6% in the U.S. and 10.2% in Canada, and rising 3.4% in Mexico from the same point last year.
The Surface Transportation Board has adopted for second-quarter 2022 the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), defined as “an index formulated to represent changes in railroad costs incurred by the nation’s largest railroads over a specified period of time.”
For the week ending March 12, 2022, U.S. rail traffic was down 4.7% over the same week last year; total carloads came in 0.9% higher while intermodal volume dropped 9.1%, according to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) March 16 report.