Rail News

Canadian National Railway and CSX Transportation will launch a new international intermodal service linking Montreal and Toronto to New York.

Companies should have contingency plans in place for their inland European supply chains as low water levels on the rivers are posing a very real threat.

In its inaugural US Domestic Intermodal Savings Index, JOC finds that intermodal rates are closer to trucking rates than at any time since 2014, so shippers should closely examine their modal choices.

Maersk’s new ocean-rail service from Asia to Northern Europe is offering competitive transit times against more established all-rail routes.

Canadian National Railway said its enhanced competency to handle less-than-truckload volumes allowed it to provide a more sophisticated suite of services to Hudson’s Bay.

Norfolk Southern Railway believes the intermodal market has hit bottom and expects shippers to move more containers in the second half of 2019.

Maryland and the Port of Baltimore will have to find $103 million in funds for the $466 million Howard Street Tunnel project after the federal government awarded only $125 million, just over half of the $228 million requested.

Truckers in Mexico will soon be able to sign a single agreement that will set out common rules for equipment exchange with all signatory providers, creating a simpler, more reliable process.

Kansas City Southern’s cross-border intermodal rail volumes increased in the second quarter amid truck delays, but the railroad’s intermodal business as a whole struggled to compete with a lower-priced trucking sector.

CSX Transportation lowered its guidance for 2019 after offering a grimmer view of the freight market than J.B. Hunt had a day earlier, warning investors that the second half of the year could be worse than the first.

Attempts to increase rail’s market share in Europe are being hampered by added costs involved in the modal shift, which Belgium’s transport lobbies believe can be solved by government subsidies.

Analysts expect more of a negative outlook from railroads in second-quarter earnings calls, as shippers have not sent as much on intermodal as they have anticipated in 2019.

Finding rail freight routes around the closed section of the North Sea-Med Corridor is not easy, as the line is a key link between France and Italy.

Although intermodal service was better in the second quarter, according to shippers, a survey from Cowen & Co. finds fewer customers are converting freight to rail because trucks are cheap and available.

While the current perception is that there is an ongoing shift of cargo occurring from the West Coast to the East and Gulf coasts, data shows that is not necessarily the case.

Truckers continue to battle turns of more than an hour at times in BNSF’s Lot 16 outside Chicago, where the railroad has instructed all empty containers to be returned. This means drivers complete fewer jobs per day and shippers have to wait longer for service.

All rail traffic along a busy route connecting the French city of Lyon and Turin in Italy has been suspended, forcing rail operators to re-route.

Union Pacific Railroad will begin charging truckers and logistics providers for missed appointments for intermodal terminals and tighten free storage time for demurrage to 24 hours in all terminals beginning this autumn.

The intermodal peak season is expected to be a manageable one with domestic volumes continuing to be weak and abundant container capacity, while international loads will increase at a slower pace than a year ago. Industry stakeholders believe intermodal service will be good in the peak season.

Despite huge growth in container volume transported by rail between China and Europe, the journey time is decreasing as services become more efficient.

The eighth-largest US trucking operator adds an intermodal option in Indianapolis, making service between the US Midwest and Northeast more competitive with trucks.

CMA CGM’s latest rail investment in India continues to tap into the country’s emerging inland market.

With the final piece of a $1 billion plan to create rail terminals on the five largest terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey recently completed, the port is now focusing on how to improve fluidity once the trains leave the terminal.

The alliance between India’s containerized rail leader and digital startup could signal the future of supply chain logistics in the country.

Despite a downturn in volume, freight shippers say intermodal remains a critical component of their supply chains even as technology is poised to lower truck costs.

Concor looks to potentially expand its short-sea network, even beyond India. It has its eyes on the Bangladesh transshipment market.

The Illinois Trucking Association has begun to track truck turn times in Chicago rail yards to provide shippers a better understanding of how congestion disrupts the supply chain.

There is consensus building in the intermodal industry that each port or rail hub should develop a regional pool of grey chassis managed by a single entity responsible for ensuring chassis quality and availability.

If the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, industry fears massive delays at ferry ports of Dover in the UK and Calais in France.

Chasing volume at the expense of profitability is a “problematic recipe,” according to the author, pointing to ocean container carriers as an example.

The new expanded intermodal rail yard has reopened at the Port of Virginia, doubling capacity for CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. The port says this means quicker transfers from ships to trains.

Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway announced a series of changes to cross-country service, which will require a crosstown drayage in Chicago for a number of international loads heading to and from ports.

Beer company MillerCoors alleges Norfolk Southern threatened to raise rates on captive lanes if the railroad lost business to CSX.

Although last week’s Surface Transportation Board hearing didn’t include intermodal, shippers complain about penalties assessed when their cargo arrives on a Friday night and their warehouses are closed until Monday.

The terminal operator’s acquisition of a majority stake in three large inland logistics centers in North India builds on services offered via Indian intermodal subsidiary Container Rail Road Services (CRRS).

Panel says shippers need to be proactive in negotiating different terms into their contracts to protect themselves when no chassis are available for final delivery.

The Federal Maritime Commission briefed the STB this week about the efforts of Memphis shippers and truckers to establish a chassis pool to eliminate a common cause of rail demurrage penalties.

The Surface Transportation Board put Class I railroads on the hot seat about demurrage and accessorial policies that rail shippers have described as unreasonable and revenue generators.

Group Mexico’s purchase of Florida East Coast Railway has opened up new opportunities for Florida ports to court all-water service from Mexico to bypass the congestion of Texas border crossings.

The massive expansion of Mexico’s second largest port will include a second rail line that will allow direct access for Kansas City Southern of Mexico in addition to Ferrosur at present.