Posted on 07/04/2018 10:07:13 AM PDT by TMA62
One stat to look for in this growing economy is the weekly rail statistics report from the Association of American Railroads (AAR). I have attached the link. It is a weekly summary of car loadings compared to last year. (Note: the tax cuts were passed in January so it is a good comparison to last year.)
Nearly everything is up in the 2-4 percent range. Petroleum (unit tank car trains) really up. The other big stat is intermodal (trailers on flatcars or double stack containers). Intermodal is around 6-8 percent growth from last year and is leading the recovery.
The AAR releases its weekly reports every Wednesday afternoon so it is a good source to look at.
this is 300 locomotives in 'storage' near Benson, Az. 3 mile long string of parked locos. I guess this is the RR "boneyard" like at Davis-Monthon AFB just a few miles away...?. Once these are back in service, I'll believe things are getting back to 'normal'. Good to see an uptick in use tho
Friend of mine drives from the Phoenix area southwest to Yuma 3 or 4 times a year.
He made the trip last month and said he couldn’t believe the number of railcars he saw. Said he’d never seen that many.
Yep, just like factory capacity utilization - when assets are underutilized companies won’t be investing, expanding, or hiring more people.
Looks like coal loadings are still down a bit but I suppose they don’t turn around on a dime. Time will tell.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Long petroleum trains pass through my little city every day.
New Roads, Louisiana.
The author misses the use of intermodal rail cars: they come off of container ships, with IMPORTED GOODS in them if they are inbound from the coasts. If they are outbound toward the coasts, they are EXPORTS.
We want exports, do not want an increase in imports.
Cool - thanks for the update.
BTW - you don’t have to shout...
Thanks! #WINNING
railroads in the chicago area are offering hiring bonuses ranging from 10k to 15k depending on skill specialty ... diesel technicians get the biggest bump
I have been looking into the stats concerning containers. It is true the international traffic (both export and import) use containers. These are typically found on double stack trains. However, there is a rapidly growing area in container traffic, domestic container service. Companies like JB Hunt, EMP (link attached), Schneider, FedEx, UPS and others are providing containers for domestic only service. Why? Because railroads charge shippers the total weight they are hauling. In the past, trailers were used. The total weight included the tare weight of the trailer chassis, frame, wheels, fifth wheel, etc. was charged to the shipper by the railroad. For a large shipper like JB Hunt, the cost of shipping tare weight car really added up big time. The remedy was to reduce/eliminate the tare weight: Containers. Hence, one is seeing a lot of containers trains (double stacks).
In the past, container trains (in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s) meant purely international trade. Now, it is a mix of both international and domestic trade. If you see containers with JB Hunt, EMP, Schneider, Fed Ex, UPS etc., there is a very good chance that this is all domestic traffic.
It is not a surprise that intermodalism is leading economic recovery. Not necessarily of international trade, but the the versatility of intermodalism now offered to domestic traffic.
https://www.up.com/customers/premium/emp/index.htm
Well I did shout when we first drove by where they had been, so I shared that with you.
When we start to balance our trade, repositioning costs will go down, because logistics companies will be able to find shippers going both directions, and costs will even out in both directions.
Trouble is I don't know how much these statistics are published to the public.
Motive power and rolling stock are not the only problem for class one railroads. Trackage and classification yard capacity are delaying shipments. The rail industry spent almost 40 years downsizing to single track lines and closing yards. Suitable for an Obama economy, not a Trump economy.
Nice catch. Thanks.
President Trump said in a July 3rd speech, that ‘if a pipeline gets damaged, there goes the oil, but not coal ...’.
Would it be advantageous for the nation, as a matter of national defense, (and a preclusion of discussed EMP), to have a small fleet of coal-fired locomotives?
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