General Information
PSR and the rail car: Commentary by Richard Kloster
(Source: Progressive Railroading February 2019) By Richard Kloster Precision scheduled railroading (PSR) is a disruptive business strategy that challenges the industry’s status quo. Ideally, railroads want to minimize this disruption and the impact on their customers and revenue stream. Trying to get better asset management, lower costs and new efficiencies are all good things, and this…
Read MoreMany companies, including Union Pacific, get waivers for steel tariffs amid tough trade talk
(Source: Associated Press, February 15, 2019) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite President Donald Trump’s tough talk on trade, his administration has granted hundreds of companies permission to import millions of tons of steel made in China, Japan and other countries without paying the hefty tariff he put in place to protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, according…
Read MoreSingle mom with breast cancer speaks about struggles after being laid off by Union Pacific
(Source: Television station KETV, February 14, 2019) OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific laid off 150 workers at its Omaha headquarters Tuesday. JoAnna Draper puts a face and story to those employees, sharing her struggles and fears after being terminated. Perhaps the most troubling part of losing her job is that Draper said she will lose…
Read MoreCarload volume a drag on total U.S. rail traffic in Week 6
(Source: Progressive Railroading 02/14/2019) U.S. railroads’ total carload traffic fell 3.3 percent to 242,266 units for the week ending Feb. 9 compared with the same week in 2018, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data. Intermodal volume helped boost total traffic levels for the week, however. Intermodal levels rose 3.4 percent to 277,513 containers and trailers, for…
Read MoreBeware the operating ratio trap
(Source: Railway Age 02/11/2019) Written by Frank N. Wilner, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Watching Washington, February 2019: Sizzle sells product. No wonder the sizzle of ever-lower operating ratios is leading to remarkably higher railroad share prices. But as operating ratios—operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue—flirt with a sub-60%, the meaning for the longer term is unclear.…
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