CEOs of Norfolk Southern and Canadian National sought to make the case for why precision scheduled railroading is best for shippers and railroads during the recent Midwest Association of Rail Shippers.
As reported by Trains magazine on its website, CN CEO Tracy Robinson argued that scheduled railroading is working for shippers and the railroad alike.
NS CEO Alan Shaw reiterated a point he made last year that the Atlanta-based Class 1 carrier is seeking to refine its scheduled railroading practices to move away from the cycle of reducing its workforce during economic downturns as has been the industry standard.
Robinson described PSR as basic railroading that provides consistent service. The key to that is providing on-time service.
“We are moving meaningfully faster, and we are dwelling less,” Robinson said.
“So we’re learning as we go, we’re relearning as we go, and we’re going to remain focused on scheduled railroading.”
During his remarks Shaw said NS is no longer trying to “time the market” in its decisions about crew staffing and assets.
“Because frankly, that’s where we’ve gotten in trouble in the past,” he said. “The economy moves up, and we don’t have enough crews, or enough intermodal chassis, or enough locomotives.”
Shaw said NS is taking a longer view by seeking to determine what it needs to get to where it wants to be in terms of operating efficiency three to five years from now and pouring resources into achieving that.
He attributed the service issues NS has experienced in the past couple years to trying to move up and down with the economic cycle.
Reacting to the current economic cycle has been useful in achieving short-term profitability but Shaw said that has come at the cost of lost revenue opportunity in the longer term.
“We took a look at this, and look at the revenue opportunity you lose, when you have a poor service product,” Shaw said. “And we’re also talking about the additional costs. I don’t think people realize a faster railroad is a less expensive railroad. One that’s running on time, one that’s running on schedule, is less expensive than one that’s running off schedule.”
Additional information about what Robinson and Shaw had to say can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/cn-ns-ceos-tell-shippers-service-will-continue-to-improve/
Tags: Canadian National, Norfolk Southern, NS CEO Alan Shaw, precision scheduled railroading, Tracy Robinson
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