Freight congestion has left some shippers months behind in moving products to customers.
Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 3 months ago to Economics
I heard this on the radio today. Here are excerpts:
Freight congestion has left some shippers months behind in moving products to customers. The delays are especially bad in the Northern Plains states where thousands of rail cards full of crude oil crowd the tracks.
The problem is multifaceted. In some cases the shippers are waiting for railcars; sometimes they're waiting for train crews and sometimes even full trains can't move because there are so many trains ahead of it.
The situation is so bad that Amtrak has filed a formal complaint with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) because under federal law passenger trains are supposed to be given preference over the movement of freight. Some question whether the railroads are giving preferential treatment to those shipping crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota, but can the the Surface Transportation Board do much about it?
Thune is sponsoring a bill with Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia to strengthen the STVs investigative authority and streamline its processes. The two lead the Senate commerce committee, which held a hearing latest afternoon on the chronic railroad delays.
Freight congestion has left some shippers months behind in moving products to customers. The delays are especially bad in the Northern Plains states where thousands of rail cards full of crude oil crowd the tracks.
The problem is multifaceted. In some cases the shippers are waiting for railcars; sometimes they're waiting for train crews and sometimes even full trains can't move because there are so many trains ahead of it.
The situation is so bad that Amtrak has filed a formal complaint with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) because under federal law passenger trains are supposed to be given preference over the movement of freight. Some question whether the railroads are giving preferential treatment to those shipping crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota, but can the the Surface Transportation Board do much about it?
Thune is sponsoring a bill with Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia to strengthen the STVs investigative authority and streamline its processes. The two lead the Senate commerce committee, which held a hearing latest afternoon on the chronic railroad delays.
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- 3Posted by khalling 10 years, 3 months agoNow non -fiction| Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink
- 3Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years, 3 months agoSurreal... becoming too real, too commonplace.| Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink
- 2Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 3 months agoAt least lawmakers are moving fast to strengthen the authority of the Surface Transportation Board. It reads just like the book!| Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink
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- 2Posted by j_IR1776wg 10 years, 3 months agoIn the 1970s in the USSR, wheat would rot by the railroad sidings because they could not coordinate the harvest and the arrival of the cars necessary to carry the crop away. I always thought it was due to the ineptitude of the Marxist system. Now I'm beginning to wonder whether is was a deliberate way for the government to control the population by controlling the supply of food. All the stores in Moscow had long lines and limited supplies. Is that what is happening here?| Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink
- 1Posted by tphoover 10 years, 3 months agoJust because it is the cheapest option doesn't mean it is the best option. There are millions of independent truckers, such as myself, who would be able to pick up and deliver on time if given the chance. But we don't get that chance because the railroads are subsidized by the government.| Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink
