BLET News

(Source: Freight Waves, May 10, 2020) CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — In 2020, North American rail volumes could fall roughly 15% or more compared to a year ago. This projection, amidst others for deep declines in coal traffic and a shaky environment for intermodal volumes, was divulged in a report from Moody’s Investor Service, a credit ratings…

(Source: Railway Age, May 8, 2020) NEW YORK — Too much ink (printer ink in the modern era) has already been spilt trying to find an angle on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the national and global economy, the consumer, the business segments most impacted by the terrible crisis (think aerospace, restaurants, the…

(Source: Railway Age, May 10, 2020) NEW YORK — Union Pacific on May 8, 2020 shut down its Cold Connect service for perishables traffic from the West Coast to the East Coast. Cold Connect began in January 2017 with the acquisition from Railex of three cold storage and distribution facilities in Delano, Calif.; Wallula, Wash.;…

(Source: Transport Topics, April 21, 2020) WASHINGTON, D.C. — For at least the past decade, America’s railroads have been toying with the notion of freight trains moving at speeds approaching some passenger bullet trains. Now, a new Federal Railroad Administration demonstration study has concluded that specially designed “higher speed freight truck” railcars could be designed…