AAR's top executive talks traffic and service at RailTrends 2014

摘要

Even with the well-documented service issues freight railroads have experienced over the last several months, there's plenty to be excited about when looking at the industry, according to Ed Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Speaking at the recent RailTrends conference in New York hosted by Progressive Railroading and independent rail analyst Tony Hatch, the AAR's top executive provided his perspective on different aspects of the market. Hamberger said that the current situation is a good news/bad news story, with the good news being that the economy is coming back, with current traffic levels ahead of pre-recession levels. As an example, Hamberger noted that for the first 10 months of 2014, total intermodal units at 24.3 billion were the most since 2007, and carloads rang in at 17 million. "We're moving a lot of domestic energy, and not only is that good for us and the economy, but it's really good for manufacturing as we're now producing more oil than we're importing for the first time in more than 20 years," he said.