Management

Union Tank Car Company’s network of mobile repair teams and dedicated mini shops established a new record in 2013, with well over a half-million car “touches,” including field inspections, repairs, and tank car qualifications. “UTLX On-Site® teams of dedicated, AAR-certified tank car technicians operate inside shippers’ facilities, ensuring cars are ready-to-load, reliable, and qualified per AAR and DOT regulations,” the Chicago-based company said.

A railway reform bill that has been approved by the lower house of Mexico’s Congress and that would impose a form of open access has had a major impact on Kansas City Southern’s share price, according to analysts. KCS derives close to 50% of its revenue from its Mexican operation, KCSM; the company’s share price has declined about 15% in recent weeks, despite record revenues in 2013 and an improved operating ratio.

CN announced on Feb. 19, 2014 a capital investment plan worth approximately C$2.1 billion (US$1.9 billion) “to continue to raise network safety and efficiency, improve service, and grow the business.” The amount is approximately $100 million higher than what CN invested in 2013.

James Weinstein, executive director of New Jersey Transit, the nation’s third-largest public transportation agency, announced Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, that he has resigned effective March 2. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who appointed Weinstein in 2010, said Weinstein will be replaced by Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, currently executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 Class I financial results and accompanying railroad management commentaries have reinforced Wall Street’s favorable view of the rail sector, according to Cowen & Co. Managing Director and Railway Age Contributing Editor Jason Seidl. “While weather should be a bigger drag in first-quarter 2014 than it was in the prior quarter, we believe the underlying rail fundamentals are very solid,” he says.

CN is charger a higher rate to move crude oil in DOT-111 tank cars built prior to October 2011, when Association of American Railroads CPC (Casualty Prevention Circular)-1232 safety standards took effect. These standards include head shields, top-fitting rollover protection, half-inch-thick normalized tank steel (for unjacketed applications), double-shelf couplers, and bottom skid protection.

Communities around Norfolk, Va., and the Elizabeth River, a tributary of the ecologically important Chesapeake Bay, have benefitted from Norfolk Southern’s innovative stormwater management system at the railroad’s Lamberts Point coal transload facility.

Union Pacific has announced a capital spending plan worth $3.9 billion, and has installed Lance Fritz and Cameron Scott in new leadership positions following Jim Young’s retirement as Chairman.

If history records 2012 as the year when modern crude by rail (CBR) came into its own, 2013 will be remembered as a time of a nearly two-fold increase in that business, and as a time for examining more closely the means by which it’s handled.