subject: Railex Press Releases [print this page] As President Obama prepares to address a joint session of Congress on job creation and the state of the economy, he would do well to consider casting a light on the freight rail industry in his remarks. Freight rail? Freight raila surprising pocket of growth, investment, hiring and innovation in the much-maligned US infrastructure network.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, investor Warren Buffet saw it coming, when Berkshire Hathaway took full ownership of BNSF, the countrys second largest freight railway, in February 2010. Since then, the company, like the rest of the industry, has experienced double digit revenue expansion, thanks to rising coal, industrial and agricultural product volumes. Shippers are switching from road to rail as fuel prices and traffic congestion impact cost, efficiency and reliability of highway transport.
The well-funded, well-organized Association of American Railroads (AAR) has developed a web siteFreight Rail Worksthat is a visual crib sheet for anyone looking to understand the basics of the freight rail industry and its positive role in the US economy. The charts and graphs, videos and slideshowsincluding one on transporting jumbo jet-sized wind turbines cross-countryare all terrific.
Perhaps the most striking point of all, in this era of tight federal and state budgets: the rail industry pays much of its own way, reinvesting 40 cents of every dollar to maintain and improve its own tracks and equipment. This years expected combined industry outlays: in excess of $12 billion. Over the last five years total capital investment has exceeded $40 billion.
Look beyond the freight rail industrys own finely-tuned pitch materials, theres plenty more evidence of game-changing innovation, effective collaborative partnerships and successful, scrappy entrepreneurial risk-taking leading to job growth and community building around the country.
Theres RailEx, a state-of-the-art refrigerated train and warehouse facility that allows east coast, west coast and even non-US farmers to move goods cross-country by rail in five days or less. In 2008, two years after it first came online, RailEx introduced a second west coast location in California. Earlier this summer it increased the frequency of services running out of this facility. RailExs hauling: provided by Union Pacific and CSX.
Then theres GEs Evolution Series Locomotives, a cornerstone of the companys ecomagination product line. Demand has been so strong that the company is opening a new $95 million manufacturing, service and repair facility in Texas. Theres FreightCar America a Chicago-based company with manufacturing facilities in Roanoke, Virgina that recently re-opened, hiring to accomodate growing demand for its railcars in the wake of the industrys surge.
Theres 550 regional and shortline railroads that have expanded their track network from 8,000 to 45,000 miles over the last three decades, many, such as the Iowa Interstate, leveraging off of their rich heritage to build customers, loyalty, business. And theres the public-private National Gateway Initiative to expand and upgrade essential east coast rail infrastructure, leading to CSXs just-announced $59 million investment in Columbus, Ohios intermodal freight terminal.
