WEEKLY RAIL REVIEW
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, Feb. 02, 2007
BY: DAVE MEARS
(Posted by permission)
BY DAVE MEARS
(NOTE: Effective from now on, Weekly Rail Review will sum
the news for the 7 days ending Friday instead of for the 7 days ending
Saturday. I am making this change because I have found that there is often more
news about weekend occurrences the next business day, usually Monday, than
there is during the weekend itself. Dave M.)
THE WEEK’S TOP RAIL AND TRANSIT NEWS (in chronological
order):
(SUN) Britain’s
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall,
traveled by train from Philadelphia, PA
to New York, NY.
The prince and his wife, on an official tour of North America,
rode in three luxury cars of the Juniata Terminal Company, owned by Bennett
Levin. The three-car train was powered by two Amtrak AEM7 electric locomotives,
one the prime mover and one protecting. (ffd:
Trains)
(MON) House and Senate conferees agreed to fund $8.97
billion for federal transit programs for FY2007. The amount represents the
level of funding called for in the 2005 SAFETEA-LU law. Federal transit
programs are currently being funded at FY2006 levels under a continuing
resolution that expires February 15. (ffd:
Progressive Railroading, Traffic World)
(MON) U.S.
senators and congressmen proposed several legislative initiatives aimed at the
rail industry. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) introduced
the Transportation Security Improvement Act, which if passed would authorize
$1.25 billion in spending and make the Transportation Security Administration
the lead agency for rail and public transportation security. Sen. Bennie
Thompson (D-MS) announced plans to introduce a bill that would establish
federal standards and oversight over mass transit, passenger rail and freight
rail, including the transport of hazardous materials. Sen. Charles Schumer
(D-NY) said that he would reintroduce the Rail Crossing & Hazardous
Material Transport Act, which was first introduced in 2004 but failed to pass.
The bill establishes a $50 million federal grant program to complete vital
infrastructure improvements, sets tougher minimum and maximum fines for fatal
accidents, and establishes new requirements for investigations, inspections and
the use of new rail safety technology. On Tuesday, House Rail Subcommittee
Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) said that his committee’s highest priority would
be to address rail employee fatigue, including amending the existing hours of
service law. “The FRA,” Mr. Oberstar said, “is the only agency [within USDOT]
that does not have the regulatory authority to address hours of service…the
[existing] rules are antiquated and in need of updating.” (Binghamton
Press & Sun, NARP, Traffic World)
(MON) California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed
funding the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority with just $1.2 million, which a
state newspaper reported as “just enough money to keep the doors open.” Mr.
Schwarzenegger also stated that he wanted to focus more on road building and
scrap the proposed 2008 ballot initiative that would appropriate nearly $10
billion in bonding authority for high-speed passenger rail construction in the
state. The governor’s proposed budget now goes to the state legislature for
consideration. (ffd: Fresno
Bee, NARP)
(MON) The State of Massachusetts
announced that it is in negotiation with CSX to acquire several of its rail
lines out of Boston, including the
line west to Worcester, south to Fall
River and New Bedford,
and north to Somerville. A
spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said that acquiring
the lines would facilitate the expansion of commuter rail service on them. The
spokesman added that CSX would continue to provide rail freight service on the
lines. (ffd: Boston
Globe)
(TUE) New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Executive Director Elliot Sander announced the creation of an MTA Interagency
Fencing Task Force charged with improving safety and security along Long
Island Rail Road and Metro North Railroad tracks.
Mr. Sander said that the task force members will survey rights of way to
identify fencing needing repair; review LIRR and MNRR right-of-way inspection
processes and procedures; analyze existing community educational efforts;
ensure railroad employees secure all access points along sensitive areas; and
work with elected officials to identify new resources that can be used to
repair and erect new fencing. MTA has recently obtained $500,000 in federal
funding to add fencing along LIRR and MNRR tracks. (ffd: MTA, Progressive Railroading)
(TUE) South Florida commuter rail
operator Tri-Rail announced that Amtrak would be hired to dispatch Tri-Rail’s
72-mile line between Miami, FL
and West Palm Beach, FL.
The state purchased the line from CSX in 1988 and CSX had been dispatching the
line, which it continues to operate freight trains over, but has now agreed to
transfer dispatching to Tri-Rail. Tri-Rail also announced that it had hired Veolia Transportation Services to operate and maintain its
commuter trains. Veolia, which also operates and
maintains Los Angeles, CA’s
Metrolink commuter rail system, will take over from
Herzog Transit Services, which has operated and maintained Tri-Rail trains
since 1993. (ffd: NARP,
Trains)
(WED) The House of Representatives passed its version of a
new continuing resolution (CR) funding the government while a federal budget
for FY2007 is settled on. Including in the CR is funding for Amtrak at its
FY2006 amount, $1.29 billion. The House CR now goes to the Senate for debate. A
new CR needs to be passed and signed by the president before February 15, when
the current CR expires. (ffd:
NARP, wire services) (WED) A consortium of rail shippers criticized Surface
Transportation Board efforts to expedite and make simpler changes to the STB’s rail rate complaint process for the benefit of
smaller shippers. “Instead of clarifying and simplifying existing rules, the
STB has created an entirely new set of rules that have the perverse…effect of
making matters worse for rail customers,” said Steve Sharp of Consumers United
for Rail Equity. Mr. Sharp’s comments were made at a STB hearing on the
proposed changes. (ffd:
CURE, wire services)
(WED) Union Pacific put the first of 60 new low-emission
diesel locomotives in switching service in Los Angeles,
CA. The new 2,100-horsepower locomotives are
called “Generator Set,” or “Genset.” Each unit is
powered by three 700-horsepower ultra-low emission EPA non-road Tier
3-certified diesel engines projected to reduce emissions of nitrous oxides and
particulate matter by up to 80 percent. (ffd:
UP Corp., Trains)
(THU) The Federal Railroad Administration announced that it
had determined that the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern’s
planned project to access Wyoming’s
Powder River Basin
coal fields has met the requirements of the federal environmental review process.
The FRA also outlined measures DM&E will need to undertake to improve
safety and air quality in order for its $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation
and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan application to be approved. The FRA’s announcement, known as its Record of Decision, marks
the start of a 90-day clock within which the agency must approve or disapprove
the DM&E loan application. (ffd:
RT&S)
(THU) The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which is
representing the nation’s major freight railroads in efforts to reach a new
national labor agreement, announced that it had “reached an impasse” in the
current bargaining round with the United Transportation Union. A NCCC spokesman
said that the impasse “was about money,” but also said that it had not yet made
a decision as to when it would seek a release from mediation. In reply, UTU
President Paul Thompson said that “the railroads’ negotiators refused to
bargain, “adding that the union will now take its fight “
from the bargaining arena to the legislative arena,” which some industry
analysts interpreted as a threat by the union to support shipper efforts to
re-regulate the rail industry. (ffd:
NCCC, Omaha World-Herald)
(FRI) Economic Planning Associates released its quarterly
“Outlook for Rail Cars” report. The report said that freight car deliveries are
expected to total 69,000 units in 2007. It said that, in 2008, “fleet owners
will be pressured to replace box car, and mid-sized and small-cubed covered
hoppers, and demand will continue to mount for tank and coal cars, centerbeams, high-cube covered hoppers and intermodal equipment,” helping to drive up 2008 deliveries
to 70,500 units. The report further predicted that deliveries “will moderate”
to 67,000 units in 2009 and gradually decline to 58,000 units by 2012. (ffd: EPA, Progressive Railroading)
(FRI) Canadian National announced that it would spend $12
million to increase the container handling capacity of its Brampton,
ON intermodal
terminal. A CN spokesman said that the improvements, expected to be complete by
late summer of this year, include additional pad capacity for loading and
unloading intermodal trains within a terminal, and
steps to improve truck throughput. Brampton,
which locates near Toronto, ON,
is CN’s largest intermodal
terminal. (ffd: CN Corp.)
(FRI) Metro North Railroad and Long
Island Rail Road announced that they were having
success with new seat armrests in their Class M-7 commuter rail cars. A
spokesman said that the M-7’s existing armrests have had a tendency to catch on
passenger clothing and that, since 2002, the two railroads have paid out over
$108,000 to passengers for clothing repairs. The spokesman added that the M-7’s
make up the bulk of the LIRR fleet and about a third of the MNRR fleet. (ffd: Newsday)
STATS – TRAFFIC:
(THU) For the week ending January 27, 2007, U.S.
rail volume grand totaled 32.5 billion ton-miles, down 4.1 percent from the
comparable week last year. An AAR spokesman commented
that “winter storms continue to have an impact on rail freight traffic.” U.S.
carload rail traffic was down 5.2 percent, down 6.3 percent in the East and
down 4.4 percent in the West, and U.S.
intermodal rail traffic was down 0.5 percent. Also
for the week, Canadian carload rail traffic was up 2.0 percent, Canadian intermodal rail traffic was up 2.2 percent, Mexico’s
Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s carload rail traffic was up 4.1 percent, and KCSM’s intermodal rail traffic
was up 24.8 percent. For the period January 1 through January 27, 2007, U.S.
rail volume grand totaled 125.3 billion ton-miles, down 5.4 percent. Also for
this period, U.S.
carload rail traffic was down 6.6 percent, U.S.
intermodal rail traffic was down 1.5 percent,
Canadian carload rail traffic was down 4.4 percent, Canadian intermodal rail traffic was down 1.2 percent, Mexico’s
Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s carload rail traffic was down 13.3 percent,
and KCSM’s intermodal rail
traffic was up 12.8 percent. (ffd:
AAR)
MORE STATS – OPERATING PERFORMANCE:
(NOTE: Effective October
1, 2005, railroads that had been furnished operating performance
statistics to the Association of American Railroads began applying a new
standardized definitional framework, aimed at eliminating differences in
calculation methodology. Concurrent with but unrelated to these changes,
Canadian National elected to no longer furnish these statistics.)
(WED) For the week ending January 26, 2007 and versus the
comparable week last year, average total cars on line was as follows: BNSF,
227,581 cars versus 216,430 cars; Canadian Pacific, 80,752 cars versus 81,062
cars; CSX, 223,021 cars versus 224,332 cars; Kansas City Southern, 26,906 cars
versus 28,779 cars; Norfolk
Southern, 206,045 cars versus 207,275 cars; and Union Pacific 327,570 cars
versus 324,656 cars. Also for the week ending January 26, 2007 and versus the
comparable week last year, average train speed was as follows: BNSF, 23.3 mph
versus 23.5 mph; Canadian Pacific Railway, 23.9 mph versus 25.9 mph; CSX, 20.9
mph versus 19.9 mph; Kansas City Southern, 22.2 mph versus 20.5 mph; Norfolk
Southern, 21.2 mph versus 20.9 mph; and Union Pacific, 21.3 mph versus 20.9
mph. Finally for the week ending January 26, 2007 and versus the comparable
week last year, average terminal dwell time was as follows: BNSF, 24.7 hrs
versus 25.4 hrs; Canadian Pacific Railway, 22.0 hrs versus 20.4 hrs; CSX, 23.1
hrs versus 26.4 hrs; Kansas City Southern, 26.2 hrs versus 27.4 hrs; Norfolk
Southern, 23.8 hrs versus 24.0 hrs this week last year; and Union Pacific, 29.0
hrs versus 28.2 hrs. (ffd: AAR)
STILL MORE STATS – 4TH QTR AND FULL YEAR 2006 RESULTS:
(WED) For the fourth quarter of 2006, Canadian Pacific
Railway reported net income of C$145.6 million, up 6.2 percent from C$137.1
million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues were C$1.190 billion, up 2.0
percent from C$1.167 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005. CPR’s operating
ratio was 73.1 percent, improved from 73.9 percent in the fourth quarter of
2005. (ffd: CN Corp.) For
the full year 2006, CPR’s net income totaled C$796.3 million, up 46.6 percent
from 2005’s total of C$543 million. Revenues totaled C$4.583 billion, up 4.4
percent from 2005’s total of C$4.392 billion. CPR’s 2006 operating ratio was
75.4 percent, improved from its 2005 operating ratio of 77.2 percent. (NOTE: In
comparing CPR’s operating ratio with U.S.-based railroads, please note that
CPR, by and large, does not pay health benefits for its Canadian employees, due
to Canada’s
nationalized health care program. CPR does pay health benefits for its U.S.
employees.)
EXPANSIONS, CONTRACTIONS AND ALIKE:
(SUN) The Kauai Plantation Railway began operations in Lihue
on the Hawaiian Island
of Kauai. The new tourist railway, a restored narrow
gauge railway, is 2.5 mile line and runs through Kauai’s
historic Kilohana Plantation. (ffd: Trains)
(THU) Norfolk
Southern filed to abandon approximately 2 miles of line in Harriman,
NY. (ffd:
STB)
APPOINTMENTS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND MILESTONES:
(WED) Ed Harris retired as Canadian National’s
EVP-Operations. “Railroading has been good to me,” pined Mr. Harris. “[I
started] in railroading as a yard clerk and capped my career as head of
operations for the best railway in the world…” Mr. Harris started with CN
predecessor Illinois Central in 1968. (ffd: CN Corp.)
(WED) Dick Davidson retired as chairman of Union Pacific.
Mr. Davidson started with UP predecessor Missouri Pacific as a brakeman at Age
18. The next day, UP appointed its president and CEO, Jim Young, as chairman,
succeeding Mr. Davidson. (ffd:
Omaha World-Herald)
(THU) Kansas City
Southern appointed William “Jim” Wochner SVP &
Chief Legal Officer. Mr. Wochner joined KCS in 1981
as a general attorney. (ffd:
KCSR Corp.)
* * *
Weekly Rail Review is edited from public news sources and
published weekly to those working in, or interested in, rail and transit. Send
an e-mail to weeklyrailreview@aol.com
to receive it, with my compliments.
BE SAFE AND PROSPER,
Dave Mears
Cherry Hill, New
Jersey, USA
Posted: 02/08/07