Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
Land is being cleared, leveled for new bypass track in Vancouver Excavators are eating into a slope above BNSF Railway’s main line in the Fruit Valley neighborhood. The work is to prepare the site for a 3.2-mile-long set of bypass tracks designed to help ease a railroad chokepoint in Vancouver. The new line will run along the east side of the BNSF main line from downtown Vancouver all the way to the Fruit Valley Road overpass. Contractors demolished two old houses on the west-facing slope last week. BNSF is contracting to do the earthwork north of the 39th Street overpass,...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
Freight And Truck Traffic Point To Recovery by: Edward Harrison June 10, 2010 One common metric used by analysts to gauge how the economy is doing comes from freight or rail tonnage. If the economy is doing well, then more goods will be shipped via trucks and trains. This is exactly what is happening. Andy Lees showed this via a few Bloomberg charts in a note earlier today. Of note: The seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index is at its highest level since September 2008. US railcar container index which is just 4% off its all time high. The ConTex container...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
Shippers Are Blowing Off European Problems And Rushing Vessels Back Into Action Vincent Fernando, CFA May 25, 2010, 1:20 PM Despite the concerns about Europe, global trade continues to show signs of a continued rebound. For example, average freight rates and volume reported by the container shipping company NOL (a leading player) have both continued to rise thanks to strength between North America and Asia. Moreover, ship owners are bringing vessels back into action based on demand growth expectations. Fearnly Fonds: The idle container fleet fell to 4.1% or 549,000 TEUs (263 ships) from 5.3% or 306 ships two weeks...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
On rail lines, freight trains have priority over passenger service, which frequently causes delays for Amtrak customers. Freight also appears to have the upper hand when it comes to money for improving service and infrastructure. Recent federal grant awards to Western Pennsylvania have included $35 million for improvements for cargo-hauling trains and just $750,000 for those that move people. But people stand to benefit from the freight investment because it will mean fewer trucks on congested highways, less pollution and lower road maintenance costs, railroad officials told a state House committee on Wednesday. ~~~SNIP~~~ The money will be used to...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Tuesday to impose sanctions on foreign companies that help supply gasoline to Iran, a move lawmakers hope will deter Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program. The bill authorizes President Barack Obama to levy sanctions on energy companies that directly provide gasoline to Iran along with the firms that provide insurance and tankers to facilitate the fuel shipments. The Senate is likely to approve a similar bill, but it is uncertain how soon it will vote.
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
High speed rail is a glamorous idea -- it's fun to imagine a train streaking through the cornfields from Chicago to St. Louis in four hours. Less glamorous are some of the fixes that need to be made to Chicago's notoriously slow freight rail system. Talk about projects like "signalize interlocking" and "grade separation," and eyes glaze over. But the promise of faster passenger rail is inextricably linked to the down-and-dirty business of freight. To make passenger and commuter trains move faster, you have to get the boxcars out of the way. And to do that, there needs to be...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
U.S. Rail Freight Volume Down During Thanksgiving Holiday Week 3 Dec 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For More Information Contact: AAR Communications Holly Arthur 202-639-2100 harthur@aar.org U.S. Rail Freight Volume Down During Thanksgiving Holiday Week Increases Seen in Nine Freight Commodity Groups WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dec. 3, 2009 – The Association of American Railroads today reported that freight rail traffic was down for the Thanksgiving holiday week ended Nov. 28, 2009. U.S. railroads reported originating 246,133 carloads for the week, down 3.9 percent compared with the same week in 2008 and down 29.3 percent from the same week in 2007. The...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Freight Derivative
While we have gotten several economic reports in a row that indicate the economy is stabilizing, if not starting to expand, there is one indicator of the real economy that is not budging, namely rail traffic. The table below comes from Railfax, which tracks activity on the nation's rails. It shows very little change in activity. Look at the 4-week rolling average (the weekly numbers can contain a lot of noise, the 4-week average smooths them out) relative to the year-to-date numbers. For total rail traffic, there has been only a 0.2% difference in the year-over-year rate of decline, down...
Published on Sunday 1st of August 2010 01:01:47 AM
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