Opinion

Commentary

Will Short-Haul Rail Intermodal Ever Work?

Premise: The golden age of railroads taking trucks off of the highways might be over. Why? Because the low-hanging fruit may already have been harvested. Translation: Most rail intermodal traffic may be in fewer than two-dozen origin-destination lanes across the United States. That was the low-hanging fruit. Now, It’s mostly in growth hypostasis.

Commentary

2020 Dispatching, A Short Story

The following is a fictional account written in the Year 2000 predicting what train dispatching might or could have been like 20 years later. It was published as a sidebar in the Federal Railroad Administration’s “Five-Year Strategic Plan for Railroad Research, Development, and Demonstrations,” March 2002. I was, in retrospect, excessively optimistic about how train dispatching would change over two decades. Perhaps the title of the story should be changed to “2050 Dispatching”?

Commentary

AAR Luminary Dick Briggs Dead at 80

Richard Everett (Dick) Briggs, perhaps the most outsized personality in a railroad industry historically chock-a-block with outsized personalities, died Dec. 6, barely three weeks shy of his 81st birthday. He retired as Executive Vice President from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) in 1995.

Commentary

Part 8: The Existing Tunnels May Fail First

When we last reported to you about the Gateway Program on Aug. 13, 2019, its proponents were making a best effort to alarm the public about the condition of the existing tunnels between New Jersey and Penn Station New York (officially known as the North River Tunnels), in the hope of stirring up public and political support for spending billions of dollars to build a new set of tunnels before starting repairs on the existing ones. At they same time, they were disparaging an alternative repair method now being implemented on the Canarsie Tunnels under 14th Street in Manhattan and under the East River to Brooklyn on the L-Train line of the New York City subway system, a method that averted a 15-month shutdown of the busiest part of the line.

Commentary

Railroads Seek to Avoid a Regulatory Patchwork Quilt

The Clean Water Act (CWA) imposes permitting obligations on “point sources.” Should those obligations apply to railroad cars, which move freely from state to state? The U.S. railroad industry, through the Association of American Railroads, has asked the Surface Transportation Board to take up the question and to rule that any CWA permitting obligations are preempted by the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act.

Commentary

“Don’t Replace Your Bridge Too Soon”

There is a great deal of technology and data science that can help extend track and bridge structure life. But the railroads are not always out in front in exploiting the opportunities. Engineers can see the practical uses of bridge “micro movement” sensor technology. But at the big executive table that allocates the budget resources inside railroads, identified economic opportunities point to the need for the chief financial officer and his or her risk management staff to get directly involved in examining the identified options not seen before sensor data analytics entered the tool box. Perhaps as many of one-half of all visual inspection-based bridge capex decisions are wrong. Why? Because the visual data entered into the sophisticated engineering spreadsheet formulas isn’t accurate enough.

Commentary

A December to Remember—Despite Political Tensions

For any American who has been following media coverage of Washington in recent weeks, there must have been a tremendous sense of frustration, and even questions about whether our elected leaders would ever be able to get things done. Every article, television segment and tweet seemed to be about the impeachment battle, leading to a perception of total dysfunction and gridlock in our nation’s capitol.

Commentary

Amtrak’s Preference Rights Are Not New—Or Reason For Alarm

A recent opinion column [by Railway Age Contributing Editor Jim Blaze] with a Perils of Pauline title—Amtrak vs. Freight Railroads: Shippers, You Are Impacted!–urges freight rail shippers to take up arms against recently introduced federal legislation that would allow Amtrak to bring a legal action to enforce its statutory dispatching preference over freight trains. While there may be things that freight rail shippers have reason to be concerned about, Amtrak’s preference rights are not one of them.

Commentary

Mike Haverty: From Railroad Tracks to Warning Tracks

Being a fourth-generation railroader who served the industry for 52 years is pretty cool. Notching a Railway Age Railroader of the Year award kicks it up a notch. Being married for 54 years with three kids and nine grandkids, even more so. Enshrinement in the Railroad Hall of Fame? Check!

Commentary

Justice For All?!?

FINANCIAL EDGE, RAILWAY AGE DECEMBER 2019 ISSUE: When an investor buys rail equipment to lease it to a customer (lessee), generally there are terms and conditions that govern the use and maintenance of that equipment during the term of the loan or lease. Specifically, in leasing, the investor in the equipment (the lessor) makes a forward bet on the future value of the equipment.

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