Opinion

Matt Elkott
Commentary

Cowen: Wabtec Investor Day Insight

March 9 was Investor Day for Wabtec (WAB), and its five-year margin target is ahead of consensus for the next three years (the maximum available). Revenue and EPS targets are not inconsistent with Street expectations. Cowen and Company believes WAB’s geographic breakout could position it well as some rail commodities shift from Russia to other world regions.

Among those on the Railroad Commission of Texas ballot is 37-year-old oil and gas attorney Sarah Stogner.
Commentary

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

FINANCIAL EDGE, RAILWAY AGE MARCH 2022 ISSUE: Occasionally when the world is in chaos, someone steps up to remind everyone to try not to take themselves too seriously and remember what really matters.

Commentary

Labor Talks: A Headache But Never a Bore

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE MARCH 2022 ISSUE: “The farmer and the cowman should be friends,” wrote Rodgers and Hammerstein for the 1943 musical, Oklahoma! In 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Five gets you 10 that neither friendship nor respect exist at the bargaining table where rail management and labor have been negotiating contract amendments since January 2020.

Commentary

At BNSF, Women Finding a Career Track

As part of Women’s History Month, observed in the United States each March since 1987, BNSF reflects on the contributions of women and what makes the Class I railroad a great place to work—for current and future women in railroading.

Commentary

Does the AAR Fear Competition?

How remarkable that the customarily staid Association of American Railroads (AAR) is following a Marx Brothers comedy script to derail a Surface Transportation Board (STB) proposed rulemaking intended to assure railroad competition. One scene violates first-year law school advice not to irritate judges hearing your case; another vandalizes economic science by comparing a highly competitive soft drink market with rail service monopolies.

Commentary

Point/Counterpoint: STB Annual Rail Rate Index Study

Editor’s Note: The following is the conclusion to a respectful exchange of ideas between former Surface Transportation Board Director and Chief Economist Dr. William Huneke and Jay Roman, President of Escalation Consultants, Inc. about the

Commentary

Experiences of a Woman Yardmaster, 1975

In 2019, about a year after the introduction of the authorized biography of E. Hunter Harrison by Howard Green, I was browsing the web looking for how the book was being received. During this exercise, I came across a website with a review by Stephen Karlson. I was surprised when I saw he had mentioned my name and said, “Perhaps … Sue Rathe, one of the pioneer female yardmasters, will write her memoir ….” Well, Mr. Karlson, I’m not sure my life story is worthy of a whole memoir, but I believe some of my experiences in the railroad industry may be interesting enough for an article or two. I decided to begin by writing about my time as a yardmaster.

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