Class I CEOs diverge on the merits of mergers

During third-quarter 2014 earnings presentations, two Class I CEOs with considerable experience in mega-mergers expressed opposing viewpoints on the merits of a final round of railroad mergers that would presumably create two gigantic east-west transcontinental carriers encompassing the U.S. and Canada.

STB asks CP to “clear ambiguities”

The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision dated Oct. 14, 2014 (Docket No. EP 724, “United States Rail Service Issues,” has asked Canadian Pacific Railway to “answer specific questions to clarify ambiguities related to CP’s efforts to resolve service problems and respond to fall peak demand.”

STB requiring weekly Class I service performance reports

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board announced Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014 that it is requiring all Class I railroads to publicly file weekly data reports regarding service performance “to promote industry-wide transparency, accountability, and improved service.”

Commentary

Is FRA’s Szabo headed to the STB?

Joe Szabo, the former union boss and now embattled Federal Railroad Administrator, may be on his way out—to another federal railroad regulatory agency, actually, if rumors involving his former Chicago condo neighbor and friend, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), are correct.
Commentary

Senate odd fellows unite to pack STB

An Iraqi proverb reads, “Show them death and they will accept a fever.”

STB sets 2013 railroad cost of capital at 11.32%

The Surface Transportation Board on July 31, 2014 issued its decision calculating the railroad industry’s after-tax cost of capital for 2013 as 11.32%, a slight increase over 2012’s 11.12%. The cost-of-capital figure represents STB’s estimate of the average rate of return needed to persuade investors to provide capital to the freight rail industry, and is used to determine if railroads are revenue-adequate.

Class I employment registers gains

Figures released by the Surface Transportation Board on June 17, 2014 show Class I total railroad employment rose 1.13% to 166,097 in mid-May 2014, measured against mid-May 2013, and was up 1.10% from mid-April 2014.

Class I employment registers modest monthly gain

Figures released by the Surface Transportation Board show total Class I railroad employment as of mid-March 2014 rose 0.40%, to 162,968, from the same period in February 2014, and registered only a miniscule decrease of 0.06% from the year-earlier (March 2013) period.

AAR responds to service questions raised at STB hearing

Following an April 10, 2014 Surface Transportation Board hearing on railroad service issues, the Association of American Railroads issued a statement in response to questions that have been raised.

House T&I to STB: Look before you leap

On March 25-26, 2014, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) will hold a public hearing on a petition by the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) to modify STB’s standards for mandatory competitive switching. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has sent a bipartisan letter to STB Chairman Dan Elliot and Vice Chairman Ann Begeman indirectly urging them to consider the consequences for railroads should the Board accept NITL’s proposal, and strongly voicing the Committee’s intent to oppose such a policy change.

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