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When privatization of British Rail was first conceived, many thought it could not be done. Results are moving in the right direction. Just a few days before the Labour Party's [...]

Concern is raised over the sale of Conrail's lines to CSX and Norfolk Southern in terms of the benefits it brings to shippers in the eastern states. Since CSX and NS would divide the Conrail lines between themselves, it is feared that no true competition would exist in the region's rail freight sector and that the benefits of competition, such as lower freight rates and better service, would not materialize.

This is about a trip to Abilene. Abilene, Texas. In July. On a Sunday afternoon when the temperature has cooled to 104 degrees. It is about a trip to Abilene […]

"The method itself is totally discredited... Its flaws are irremediable... Any attempt at this stage to devise an alternative method would not only be costly but would serve no useful […]

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNSF) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS) railroads will not suffer any short-term revenue loss as a result of utility deregulation, according to a study. Also, the short-term coal revenue of NS will be increased by up to $65 million. The study's result presents a big difference from an earlier study by Resource Data International that predicted that the two companies stand to lose from business deregulation.

Railroad firms have warned about the risk coal shippers will face if the US government will mandate sharing of rail routes and stop differential pricing. Railroad companies also are getting concerned over losing control of their assets. According to Timothy Dwyer, senior vice president, unit train service group of the Consolidated Rail Corp., the reregulation would only adversely affect the ability of railroads to provide essential services to coal producers and electric utilities. Dwyer added that the move will only lead to disinvestment in the rail industry.

Nobody can accuse the Surface Transportation Board of taking a Christmas-New Year's Day holiday break. In the days before the calendar was flipped over to 1997, the STB issued a […]

The Surface Transportation Board has adopted simplified evidentiary guidelines for determining rail rate reasonableness in cases where the amount of money involved is too small to justify application of "the […]

Late in October, a group of rail shippers planned to meet in Washington with some key Congressional aides to start mapping strategy for an open-access push in the 105th Congress. […]

Few railroaders have illuminated the public policy debate more succinctly than former Conrail officer Charlie Marshall who told me, "If there weren't monopolies, we wouldn't have railroads." Subsidized truck and […]

The newly enacted Canada Transportation Act will simplify the sale of unprofitable railroad track by the Canadian National Railways Co. and CP Rail Ltd. to short-line rail operators. The new law scheduled to take effect in Jul. 1996 will enable the two major railroads to focus on lines that generate more return. It will also give them the option to abandon unsold lines. Most of the track will be sold to short-line railroads and local government units.

GUATEMALA, which in 1968 nationalized its railways, is now moving to privatize the freight operations of Ferrocarriles de Guatemala (FEGUA). A 25-year concession will be granted to private investors. The […]

The National Grain and Feed Assn. (NGFA) prefers the bill approved by Senate on railroad deregulation rather than the Congress-passed version of the legislation. According to NGFA, the Senate bill promotes grain shippers' rights while eliminating unnecessary regulation that make railroad services more expensive.

Latin American countries are implementing new regulations aimed at the total deregulation of their national railroads. These countries, which include Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, are privatizing state-owned railroads to improve their efficiency and obtain much needed capital from the private sector. They also expect these railroads to gain intermodal capability once the privatization process is completed., Several nations reverse decades of nationalization. Change offers possibilities of intermodal growth. Latin American railroads are shifting from government to private control, and shippers will see the effects, says a [...]

If either public or private operators want to take over routes or services eliminated by Amtrak, what obligations will the freight railroads have to the new operators? The question was […]

Free trade brought about by deregulation has resulted in hyper-competition among Canada's railways. Seven years after the industry's deregulation, carriers complain that government's overhauling of rules severely affected their operations, profitability and position in the market. Rail industry executives describe it as more of a shipper act than a carrier act. Despite deregulation, significant regulatory measures are still being implemented., Canada's two national railways--Canadian National Railway Co. and CP Rail System, both of Montreal--are talking merger these days. Both railways decry their losses on operations east of Manitoba, a cumulative [...]

Assn. of American Railroads Pres. Edwin L. Harper stated that the deregulation of the industry had a direct effect on the increase in railroad safety. Loosened economic regulation had freed enough money to be invested in roadbed, structures and equipment. Meanwhile, railroad labor unions are pushing for safety initiatives to be mandated by Congress. These included adding supervisory train dispatchers to rail workers covered by the Hours of Service Act.

The ICC faced recurrent grain transportion issues during an open conference on Apr. 11, 1994 in Omaha, NE. Grain shippers complained that railroads were not able to provide enough cars to move their products during peak season while railroads responded that they are not willing to invest in expensive cars that may not be used most times in a year. The ICC answered the problem before by enforcing an incentive per diem ruling providing higher daily rental payments to stimulate investments in covered hopper cars. However, many investors lost money when the peak demand for grain rail cars ended.

Transportation lawyer Arvid E. Roach II is predicting that regulation of the US railroad sector will be removed by 2013 due to the economic impact of global trade growth. Budgetary and efficiency constraints on the government will also necessitate comprehensive rail deregulation. Canada's rail industry is also expected to eliminate several regulations given the emerging market orientation of the country.

Rather than seeking mergers and acquisitions, railroads have turned to haulage agreements and negotiated trackage rights agreements to expand services and markets, since deregulation of the industry in 1980. Rails have been attempting to build transcontinental systems for over 100 years, but there is now no US transcontinental railroad, nor is one likely to be pieced together since other arrangements are serving nicely without the need for asset purchases.

The Assn of American Railroads' 1993 legislative agenda focuses mainly on ensuring the continued deregulation of the railroad industry. However, the association's agenda will also tackle the revision on the tax code, requests for more grade crossing programs and the extension of federal credits to finance new equipment. In addition, it will also seek out fair treatment of railroad projects in the release of local funds and the reactivation of loan guarantee programs for the railroad industry. Also, the association will also request for the appointment of a new ICC member to occupy the position held by Gregory Walden.

An ICC proposal to deregulate rail rates for export corn and soybean shipments has been denounced by the National Grain and Feed Assn. The US grain group claims that the federal proposal will result in exorbitant transportation costs for Midwestern grain shippers. The ICC wants to eliminate a requirement that railroads give 20 days notice before increasing rates.

The American Association of Railroads (AAR) and the National Industrial Transportation (NTI) League proposed a joint shipper and carrier group to review the shipping and billing instruction sections of the rail bill of lading. The proposal is being reviewed by the ICC in its move to deregulate the outmoded rail bill of lading entirely. However, the AAR and the NTI League do not plan to deregulate or revise the bill entirely.

The Interstate Commerce Commission is considering major deregulatory proposals for the rail industry, but details are hard to come by. ICC Chairman Edward Philbin is currently reviewing a 'top to [...]

It's to be hoped that President Bush knew what he was doing when he called for a moratorium on new regulations and a review of existing ones. He called all […]

Privatization -- that's the buzz word for the '90s in Europe. Privatize the monopolies of the old nation-states as the European Community becomes a single market. The drive to privatize [...]