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CANADIAN NATIONAL

Canadian National reported a 9 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010.

The CN calendar-year operating ratio of 63.5 percent was a slight improvement over the 63.6 percent operating ratio for calendar-year 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.

CN said “solid operational and service performance helped CN deliver exceptional financial results.”

CN is primarily a Canadian railroad. Its U.S. holdings include what were formerly Detroit, Toledo & Ironton; Elgin, Joliet & Eastern; Grand Trunk Western; Illinois Central; and Wisconsin Central.

 

CANADIAN PACIFIC

Canadian Pacific reported a 12 percent reduction in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010.

The CP calendar-year 2011 operating ratio of 81.3 was a steep increase from the 77.6 percent calendar-year 2010 operating ratio. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.

CP said, “We exited 2011 having made meaningful progress on the three pillars of our multi-year plan: driving growth, expanding network capacity to safely and efficiently support higher volumes and controlling costs.

Canadian Pacific is primarily a Canadian railroad. Its U.S. holdings include Class I Soo Line and regional railroad Delaware & Hudson.

 

CSX

Despite reductions in agricultural, chemicals, coal and intermodal shipments, CSX reported an 11 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010.

The CSX calendar-year operating ratio of 70.9 percent was an improvement from the 71.1 percent operating ratio for calendar-year 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad. For the fourth quarter 2011, the CSX operating ratio increased to 71.5 percent from 70.0 percent for the fourth-quarter 2010.

CSX Chairman Michael Ward told investors, “Our performance in 2011 has set a strong foundation for growth.”

CSX operates some 21,000 route miles in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

 

KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN

Kansas City Southern reported a 26 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010.

The KCS calendar-year operating ratio was 70.9 percent versus 73.2 percent for calendar-year 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad. For the fourth quarter 2011, the KCS operating ratio was 71.6 percent, an improvement from fourth-quarter 2010.

The railroad said 2011 was “the first time in our railroad’s 125 years we attained over $2 billion revenue and two million carloads.”

KCS operates some 3,500 route miles in 10 states in the Central and South-Central U.S., as well as Kansas City Southern de Mexico, a primary Mexican rail line.

 

NORFOLK SOUTHERN

Norfolk Southern reported a 28 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010.

The railroad’s calendar-year 2011 operating ratio of 71.2 percent was a 1 percentage point improvement over calendar-year 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.

NS said said it “achieved all-time records for revenues, operating income, net income, and earnings per share during 2011, and set fourth-quarter records for revenues, net income, and earnings per share.”

Norfolk Southern operates some 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

UNION PACIFIC

Union Pacific reported an 18 percent increase in profit for calendar-year 2011 versus calendar-year 2010, citing improvements in “core pricing.”

UP’s calendar-year 2011 operating ratio of 70.7 percent was but one-tenth of one-percent off its record 70.6 percent operating ratio for 2010. Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad. UP’s operating ratio of 68.3 percent was a record fourth-quarter low, and almost two percentage points improved from its 2010 fourth-quarter operating ratio.

UP said it still had 1,030 employees on furlough at year-end – down from 1,500 at year-end 2010 and well below the 4,200 on furlough at the end of 2009.

“We expect continued slow but steady economic growth in 2012,” Union Pacific CEO Jim Young said.

Union Pacific operates some 32,000 route miles in 23 states in the western two-thirds of the U.S.

BNSF, which is privately held, has not yet posted its 2011 financial results. They will be added when available.

UTU engineers, conductors and collectors employed by Chicago South Shore & South Bend, an electric-line passenger operation between Chicago and South Bend, Ind., have ratified a new two-year agreement.

The new contract provides for several favorable rules changes, certification pay for engineers and conductors, increased mentor compensation, a lump sum payment, preservation of a cost-of-living adjustment, and no increase in health-care insurance contribution.

International Representative John Babler, who assisted with the negotiations, praised General Chairperson Tony Wojasinski (GO CSS) and Local 1526 officers Robert Kehoe and Kay Harmon “for their efforts in never wavering in their goal to gain the best possible agreement at a time that public funding for the operation is problematic.”

Also praised was National Mediation Board mediator Walter Darr, “who guided the parties through interest-based bargaining, and whose and patience kept the parties moving towards an equitable settlement,” Babler said.

Anthony Simon, general chairperson on Long Island Rail Road, has been elected to a four-year term as chairperson of District 1 of the UTU’s Association of General Chairpersons.

District 1 is made up of some 190 railroad general chairpersons. Its purpose is to formulate concerted movements relating to wages, rules and working conditions of transportation service employees represented by the UTU.

Simon succeeds BNSF General Chairperson Randy Knutson (GO 245).

Simon, a member of Local 645, Babylon, N.Y., began his railroad career on LIRR in 1990. He was promoted to conductor in 1993.

He became interested in the affairs of his union and was elected Local 645 secretary in 1998, local secretary & treasurer in 2000, and general chairperson in 2007. He was re-elected Long Island Rail Road general chairperson by acclamation in 2011.

Mike Lewis

In its latest organizing victory, the UTU now represents maintenance-of-way employees on Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad, a RailAmerica property.

Contract negotiations, led by UTU Alternate Vice President Doyle Turner, will begin shortly. Turner heads the UTU’s shortline outreach program.

Rich Ross, the UTU’s director of organizing, and International organizer Mike Lewis were commended by International President Mike Futhey for this 28th UTU organizing win over the past 48 months.

Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad operates some 530 miles of line in Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, with trackage rights over Union Pacific and connections with BNSF and Kansas City Southern. Primary commodities include coal, grain, frozen foods, minerals, steel, chemicals and asphalt.

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Great Lakes Airlines crews represented by the UTU will soon be flying in and out of Jamestown.

The Department of Transportation selected Great Lakes Airlines to provide air service to Jamestown Regional Airport through the Essential Air Service program, which partially subsidizes flights to small communities with federal funds. The airport reported record passenger boardings in 2011.

Great Lakes is tentatively scheduled to take over from Delta Air Lines, the previous EAS provider, March 12.

Great Lakes will offer 18 round-trip flights per week between Jamestown and Minneapolis, using 19-seat Beech 1900 planes.

The UTU represents pilots and flight attendants at the airline, who are members of UTU Local 40 at Denver, Colo.

FRA logoThe Federal Railroad Administration’s new associate administrator for administration is Michael Logue, a 29-year employee of the agency.

Logue has served as a railroad safety inspector trainee and in various positions within the Office of Safety and the Office of the Administrator. In 1999 he was named deputy associate administrator for safety compliance and program implementation.

Most recently, Logue worked with a team to improve human resources, information technology and acquisition management within the FRA. The agency cited his efforts “to increase diversity of the FRA workforce” through “strong support of a trainee program for rail safety inspectors and his participation in the selection of candidates for leadership positions throughout the agency.”

The Federal Railroad Administration has called attention to an injury where a conductor, while lifting the operating lever on a freight car, was dragged four car lengths after the lever became tangled in the hammer loop of his coveralls.

The FRA recommends cutting off the hammer loop on coveralls or securing the hammer loop to the pants leg so that it does not create a hazard.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway investment fund owns 100 percent of BNSF, recently appeared on television in China, singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” while strumming a ukulele.

To view the performance, click on the following YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBKwTSBBn7U

UTU local and International officer Kenneth L. Knorr, 58, died Jan. 20.
Knorr was a member of Local 1031, Savannah, Ga.
He hired on with the Seaboard Coast Line, now part of CSX, in 1977.
He served in a variety of local union offices for 29 years, and was president of Local 1031 for many years. He also served as local chairperson for the Savannah yard and road crews. In 2010, he was appointed to fill a vacancy as alternate to the UTU executive board. In 2011, he was elevated to executive board member. He worked for CSX railroad for more than 30 years.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Nancy; his daughter, Meagan; son, Patrick; and his mother, Christine Knorr Flathmann.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Relentless Campaign, Savannah Christian Church, 55 Al Henderson Blvd., Savannah, GA 31419, or Hospice Savannah, P.O. Box 13190, Savannah, GA 31416.

In 2008, California voters authorized a $9.95 billion bond measure as a down-payment for a high-speed rail project linking the Sacramento (in northern California), the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles.

The projected $98 billion route subsequently won $3.3 billion in federal grants. 

But with California in the midst of a severe budget shortfall, voter opinion has turned negative. A recent public opinion poll found that 64 percent of registered California voters (73 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of Democrats) would reject the project if given a second chance to vote on it — most citing the escalating costs and long-term completion date.

But don’t assume the California project – or, for that matter, other high-speed rail projects — are down for the count.

While the dramatic increase in cost has imposed sticker-shock on Californians, and while Congress has cut-off further federal funding for this and other high-speed rail projects, California Gov. Jerry Brown remains an ardent cheerleader, observing:

“California’s high-speed rail project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, linking California’s population centers and avoiding the huge problems of massive airport and highway expansion.”

The former chairman of the House Transportation & Infastructure Committee, Jim Oberstar, now a private citizen, but still quite active politically, told The Washington Post:

“The financial uncertainties facing California’s high-speed rail project should not be read as an indictment of such rail development in America.

“High-speed, inter-city passenger rail can be successful, even profitable — as proven in France. The French national passenger rail system, wrote a check for $299 million to the national government just before Christmas, and has returned $780 million to the government over the last five years.

“Massive congestion is choking our major metropolitan areas, costing Americans $110 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. We must invest in a passenger rail alternative. The longer we wait, the less livable our cities will become and the more expensive the alternatives will be. The French have proven that the concept can succeed. We should follow their lead and not give up on inter-city passenger rail.

Moreover, the The New York Times observed:

“[While] for many Californians, struggling through a bleak era that has led some people to wonder if the state’s golden days are behind it, this project goes to the heart of the state’s pioneering spirit, recalling grand public investments in universities, water systems, roads and parks that once defined California as the leading edge of the nation.”

The UTU’s National Legislative Office is among those educating members of Congress to the long-term benefits of high-speed rail investment. For example, the UTU is reminding lawmakers that that construction of America’s Interstate Highway system began slowly and had to overcome substantial initial opposition.

While legislation to begin construction of Interstate Highways was passed by Congress in 1956, it was the culmination of two-decades of effort – with President Roosevelt the catalyst, much as President Obama is seeking to be the catalyst for nationwide high-speed rail.

As one historian recounted, “The plan had to be sold and sold again,” culminating with President Eisenhower providing the final push – convincing Congress that a $50 billion investment ($421 billion in 2011 dollars) was absolutely essential to ensure American mobility in the future.

“Patience and persistence achieved the goal of building Interstate Highways,” says National Legislative Director James Stem. “Patience and persistence will achieve the 21st century goal of President Obama for a nationwide 17,000-mile network of high-speed and higher-speed trains to provide 80 percent of the American population access to train travel by 2036.