Lucy Don’t Move that Ball

Railroad Weekly January 20, 2025

Inside This Issue

· Lucy Don’t Move that Ball: Primus Prods RRs w/ Peanuts metaphor

· The Mistrust is Unjust: BN, UP Rebut the Primus Animus

· Yes, Finally: STB Approves CN’s Purchase of Iowa Northern

· I’m a CARBie Girl, In a MAGA World: Calif. Ends Push for Loco Regs

· Midwest Shippers Jitters: No Serenity with So Much Uncertainty

· Eyes on Five Is: Key Indicators for the New Trump Economy

· Waiting for The Grow: Asks J.B. Hunt: Is Freight Slump Ending?

· This Week: Q4 RR Earnings Season Begins

Track Talk

“Time and time again, Charlie Brown has relied on Lucy to consistently set the ball in place so he can kick it and score. Time and time again, Lucy fails to deliver. The result is a missed opportunity, disappointment and ultimately failure. We must stop treating our customers like Charlie Brown. If we don’t, growth will simply not be an option.”

- STB Chairman Robert Primus, speaking at last week’s Midwestern Rail Shippers’ Conference

The Latest

· He doesn’t give many public speeches. But when he does, STB Chairman Robert Primus makes his frustrations perfectly clear. America’s Class I railroads are not, he insisted at a MARS event in Chicago last week, pursuing growth with enough zeal. And that’s not good for the U.S. economy. He accused them of threatening shippers (and even some shortlines) with “retaliation and intimidation.” They’re still, he went on, overly influenced by Wall Street’s short-term demands. They’re still infused with a “PSR mentality.” Despite their muscular profits, they’re shamefully losing business to the financially tenuous trucking sector—like Muhammed Ali in his prime losing to Jake Paul, Primus said. “That’s unconscionable.” Rail rates are too high relative to the service their delivering. Companies are not communicating effectively with their customers. They’re not hiring enough to support future growth. They’re not fulfilling their obligations to Amtrak. Yes, Primus admits, service has improved in the past year—in the four years since he joined the STB, “This is best I’ve seen the network running.” But he worries that past is prologue, that railroads have offered moments of good service before, only to drop the ball as new customers approach. Will shippers have the proverbial football snatched away again? “We have to stop treating our customers like Charlie Brown.”

· Primus had lots more to say at the Chicago shippers event last week. Other industry leaders spoke too, including BNSF’s chief Katie Farmer, and Union Pacific’s marketing head Kenny Rocker. More on their commentary below.

· Back at the STB, Canadian National got its blessing—finally—to buy the Iowa