Industry News
Class I Employment Continues to Slide
June 30, 2009 | 12:25 p.m. CDT
U.S. Class I employment in May dropped to 151,536, down 1.77 percent from the previous month and down 8.33 percent from May 2008, reports Railway Age.
Operating crews, the biggest single category, again took the hardest hit. Transportation (train and engine) employment sank to 56,370, down 4.14 percent from April and 17.99 percent from May 2008.
The second biggest employment group, Maintenance of Way and structures, was up 0.18 percent from April to 35,442, but down 0.69 percent from May 2008.
Maintenance of equipment and stores employment, at 29,303, was off 1.05 percent from April and 3.75 percent below May 2008.
Professional and administrative employment was 13,411 in May, down 0.16 percent from April and 2.12 percent below May 2008.
The smallest group, transportation (other than train and engine), had 6,929 workers in May, off 0.9 percent from April but up 4.13 percent from May 2008.
The only category showing improvement from over both April 2009 and May 2008 were executives, officials, and staff assistants, which at 10,081 was up 0.40 percent from April and 0.11 percent from May last year.
FRA: Freight Rail Fuel Efficiency Up
Nov. 20, 2009 | 03:05 p.m. CST
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Nov. 19 released a study showing vast improvements in freight rail fuel efficiency over the last two decades, approximately 22 percent between 1990 and 2006. More...
Freight Volume Down During Holiday Week
Nov. 20, 2009 | 02:55 p.m. CST
U.S. railroads reported originating 281,218 carloads for the Veterans Day holiday week ended Nov. 14, down 8.9 percent compared to the same week in 2008 and down 17 percent from from the same week in 2007, reports the Association of American Railroads. More...
New Jersey Transit Joins Safety Pilot Program
Nov. 20, 2009 | 02:40 p.m. CST
New Jersey Transit has started its participation in the Close Call Project, a safety pilot program designed to give rail employees the ability to voluntarily and anonymously report "close call" incidents that could have resulted in an accident but did not. More...
STB: Rails Cut More Jobs
Nov. 18, 2009 | 02:00 p.m. CST
The U.S. lines of the seven Class I railroads trimmed another 408 jobs as of mid-October from a month earlier, taking their total employment level down to a new low. More...
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