As the evidentiary hearing regarding the reintroduction and expansion of Amtrak passenger train service between New Orleans and Mobile continues before the Surface Transportation Board, interesting operational cost-sharing questions have emerged regarding how Amtrak trains may be able to coexist with very long CSX freights.
At this writing, the first witness in the slugfest between Amtrak on one side and CSX, NS and the Port of Mobile on the other, is focusing on confidential matters. That creates an opportunity to think further about the importance of the case and how to report it to you. We had previously thought that a single report about this week’s hearing before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) would be sufficient, but the opening statements made by the parties April 4 forced a change in plans.
Cowen and Company transportation analysts Jason Seidl (Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor), Matt Elkott and Elliott Alper recently conducted their first-quarter 2022 rail equipment and shipper surveys. Following are the results, plus insights on The Greenbrier Companies Inc. (GBX), Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN), GATX Corporation, and the Class I railroads, ahead of earnings.
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.
The next step in the Surface Transportation Board-instituted proceeding on Amtrak’s application to operate Gulf Coast service will be, as scheduled, an evidentiary hearing, according to STB’s April 1 decision denying a motion for mediation.
Surface Transportation Board-sponsored mediation is the best means “to facilitate a prompt and orderly commencement of Gulf Coast passenger service while protecting the customers and shipping partners that rely on quality freight rail service,” according to Norfolk Southern (NS), CSX, and the Alabama State Port Authority and its Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks division (collectively, the Port). While Amtrak opposes their recent joint motion for mediation, all parties agree that an “amicable resolution” may be possible.
The Manitoba (Canada) government and CentrePoint Canada Inc. on March 25 reported their selection of Focus Equities Inc. as the developer of a Winnipeg rail park, to be served by BNSF, Canadian Pacific (CP) and CN.
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.”
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on March 16 asked merger partners Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) to address an apparent “inconsistency in the calculation of traffic density numbers” that were submitted to the STB and to the STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis regarding their proposed combination.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) will hold a public hearing March 15-16 to consider finalizing a long-pending, shipper instigated rulemaking that could loosen the standard for imposing a competition enhancing Reciprocal Switching remedy created by Congress in 1980. The proceeding is officially known as Ex Parte No. 711 (Sub-No. 1). Its roots date to 2011.