Fall Peak Service Plans of Class I's

[Anonymous]

I have seen exerpts and reports of these, but had not before tonight seen the actual plans. Interesting reading.

• Chairman Roger Nober's June 9, 2004 letter
• The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway response
• Canadian National Railway Company response
• Canadian Pacific Railway response
• CSX Transportation Inc. response
• Kansas City Southern Railway response
• Norfolk Southern Corporation response
• Union Pacific Railroad response

The responses can be accessed on the STB’s web site http://www.stb.dot.gov/. Then to go to press releases and click on the STB’s August 6 press release.

[Anonymous]

Oh well ship your cargo in a timely manner..............................YA WHAT EVER!

[jeaton]

There are some very interesting remarks in the letters of response. Interesting that NS has forecasted a lower peak on the volume of boxes coming off the west coast. They argue that the choke point may actually be containership capacity which is running close to 100% utilization. Their research indicates that many large retailers started bringing in product for Christmas sale as early as last March. The NS has a long history of doing a good job at crystal ball work.

Other interesting notes. 6 of the seven letters were sign by the CEO's. The UP letter was signed by the senior exeutive VP of sales and marketing. Read in what you would like.

Interestingly, Rose, BNSF, Goode, NS, Ward, CSX and Ritchie, CP acknowledge that their railroad's Return on Invested Capital is below the cost of of capital and note that unless changed, investment to meet growing demand may not be possible. I think the other three carriers are in the same boat. The subject is no great secret, it's just something that CEO's won't ever post with banner headlines.

For those who think that the railroads are doing nothing to address capacity problems, these responses are worth the read.