When you talk with Kansas City Southern President and CEO David L. Starling about how KCS, the smallest Class I in mileage, has extended its reach and developed new frontiers, you quickly find out that “making the right connections” has a whole new meaning.
Norfolk Southern said it has loaded the largest volume cargo in the history of its Pier 6 coal transloading facility at Lamberts Point in Norfolk, Va. Early on Jan. 12, NS finished loading 159,941.45 net tons (145,097.931 metric tons) of metallurgical coal into the M/V Cape Dover,
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has begun pondering its next contract for operations of its regional (“commuter”) services in the Bay State and neighboring Rhode Island, estimated to be worth $300 million per
Strong earnings spur railroads to build capacity and productivity. If one word could define the thrust of railroad capital spending on improvements, it would be “growth”—growth in capacity, growth in productivity, growth in service levels, and, not least, growth in customer satisfaction.
Railroads have long acknowledged the benefits offered by rail lubrication. But companies in the friction modifier market are continuing to make advances to help their railroad customers.
With unions for more than half of the workers bargaining with North American freight railroads reaching agreements, the threat of a walkout affecting freight rail transportation is diminishing. Four more unions last week have reached agreement with the Class I’s, making it 10 unions in all, according to the National Railway Labor Conference.
Most, if not all, of the advances in motor vehicle transport by rail have come about through cooperative efforts involving the railroads, railroad suppliers, and manufacturers. Railroads transport about 70% of finished vehicles in specialized railcars equipped with mostly premium components that protect vehicles in transit from loss and damage.
Writing a new chapter in an extraordinary success story.
Paul Tellier took Canadian National public with stunning success, Hunter Harrison’s Precision Railroading model took CN to performance levels that led many investment analysts to crown CN as the world’s finest freight railroad, and now Claude Mongeau, in command since Jan. 1, is taking steps to ensure that CN stays that way.
Sophisticated data collection methods, along with high-tech systems to read and interpret the data, help railroads maximize their assets. Railroads are both asset-intensive and capital intensive. Knowing where and in what conditions those assets are, from rolling stock to sticks of rail or stacks of ties, is a big job, but new systems help with that immense task to help plan short- and long-term operations and maintenance.
Bigger is indeed better for this transcontinental carrier, which is operating some of the longest freight trains in North America. A railroad’s stock performance isn’t its only measure of excellence, but it’s a good one.
