Pandemic or PSR? Which "P" To Blame?

Railroad Weekly May 16, 2022

photo credit: Terry Cantrell

Inside this Issue:

·   Pandemic or PSR? Which “P” to Blame for Rail Service Shame?

·   Dancing with the NARS: Highlights from a Rail Shipper Event

·   La La Land Latest: Los Angeles Port Puts “All-Out Focus” on Rail

·   Watch Your Language: CN Hears Groans About No Francophones

Track Talk

“I have better visibility on when my pizza is delivered, than some shippers have with a $100,000 railcar hauling 286,000 pounds of freight.”

-STB Board member Patrick Fuchs

The Latest

·    Shippers from across North America met at a conference in Kansas City last week, with one topic first and foremost on everyone’s mind: The current railroad service crisis, blamed alternatively—depend on who you ask—on one of two Ps: PSR or the pandemic. The railroads themselves (BNSF and CSX both sent their CEOs) naturally defended PSR while detailing their efforts to expand headcount and (more controversially) reduce carload volumes by fiat. Lots of other hot topics came to surface, from the CP-KCS merger to the latest outlook on demand for various categories of shipments.