RR traffic increases ?

[PNWRMNM]

Streak, Three things: Any "all" or "never" question is false 99.99% of the time. Car orders on CSX may be high this week due to orders not getting filled in prior week or two or three. Most recent peak volume year for industry was 2008, IIRC. All subsequent years have been lower, 2009 lowest with rest above '09 but no consistent pattern of recovery, per Railway Age monthly traffic data. System wide fixed plant capability is better than '08. Power and cars are coming out of storage. How much due to more volume vs. lower velocity is not clear at the moment. Most likely system capacity constraint is crews since traffic has been down. BNSF seems to be at capacity both sides of Eastern ND, but they will have major capex this year, and perhaps next, to build their way out of the bind. This is a lot better problem than not enough traffic at high enough rates as in 1950's thru 1970's. Mac McCulloch

[blue streak 1]

The below CSX service bulletin is very interesting for ongoing traffic.  The 2 underlined sentences note car requests are up.  As well the AARR says March car loadings were best in three years.   Does this mean that all USA RRs may be plugged for the foreseeable future ?l

 

Customer Service Advisory - Winter May be Easing Its Icy Grip
Yet another winter storm - hopefully one of the last of the season - dumped 6-8 inches of snow on CSX Transportation lines between Cleveland and Buffalo last weekend, but gradual progress continued toward improved service levels. The impact to CSX operations from the most recent storm was minimal as temperatures warmed and remained above freezing for most of the week. We are now working through residual effects of the weather, combined with a surge in traffic.
- As weather warms, CSX and some of the other carriers are experiencing scattered issues with minor flooding and washouts, which are expected after such a long, harsh winter. - Network fluidity and equipment availability continue to gradually improve, and CSX has filled more car orders in each of the last 3 weeks than in any week in the last 3 years.
System Overview. As weather continues to improve,  we expect the rate of operational improvement to accelerate. The condition of our processing yards continues to improve as we are seeing reduction in car dwell. Delays for locomotive availability, locomotive reliability and crew availability are decreasing but still have not returned to normal levels. Operations through the Chicago gateway remain fluid but not quite to normal levels, and interchange of rail cars remains current with most of the other carriers in Chicago.   Service Outlook. While we continue to expect consistent recovery over the upcoming months, there will be variance due to heavy and uneven demand as evidenced by the extremely high car order fill of the last 3 weeks. The recovery rate will continue to be uneven based on geographical location and backlogs of traffic and demand.  

 

EDIT ADDITION:

 

Have been waiting for some poster to address the average car mile and also ton mile figures.  If those figures have increased say more than 10% then the RRs are going to have problems ? Will edit this to original.