Frustration with railroads boils over again with missed trains

摘要

After a period of understanding following the hurricanes, folks are getting peeved at the eastern railroads again. Okay, "peeved" sort of understates the amount of saliva dripping from my ear. "I've never seen it this bad," one veteran Central Appalachia coal supplier said of the rail service on both CSX and Norfolk Southern. "It is the story of the day. You cannot get railcars. I wouldn't differentiate the two. I think it's bad on both." Another Central App source agreed. "This month is the worst out of any of them," he said. It's likely that fall peak demand is at work, in addition to hangover from hurricane hell. The railroads are doing "a lot of other business," a source said, citing retail that is "really ramping up" in advance of Christmas, and the fact that grain cars "pick up heavy here in the fall."