Open Throttle for Rail

摘要

Rail growth favors intermodal but includes routing innovations and technology. Despite predictions of growth in the rail sector moderating, those in the industry and their supply chain partners continue to make bold moves, and are changing the way goods move around the country and halfway around the world. Tracked over the course of the past four quarters (to first quarter 2013), the dynamics of the rail industry in the U.S. are fairly consistent with what's happening in the broader transportation economy. 　Volume growth is positive, but modest, and the same can easily be said of freight growth as well. "What it all boils down to is we're in kind of a slow growth environment, and one that's likely to stay that way through the balance of 2013," explains Ben Hartford, senior transportation analyst with Robert W. Baird 8c Go. And yet Hartford, who is as no-nonsense as an analyst can be, adds a tantalizing caveat, explaining that when one talks about growth rates, there's the broad view and then there's everything else.