Rail & Intermodal
Railroad strategy, service, pricing, terminals, intermodal capacity, equipment, infrastructure and network performance.
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Intermodal Shipping: A Shipper’s Guide to Lower Delivered Cost and Reliable Service
A shipper’s quick reference to intermodal lane selection, delivered-cost savings, pricing negotiations and reliable service—from individual loads to enterprise transportation networks.
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BNSF’s $1.3 Million Shuttle Bids Put Grain Shippers’ 2027 Utilization to the Test
BNSF’s yearlong shuttle bids averaged $1.3 million while near-term premiums fell. FIR examines the utilization, contract eligibility and shipment-volume tests behind a sound 2027 capacity commitment.
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Rail Fuel Surcharges Hit 48 Cents a Car-Mile as Harvest Backlogs Build—What Grain Shippers Should Audit Now
Rail fuel surcharges reached $0.48 per car-mile as harvest demand tightened equipment. FIR identifies the rate, formula and car-supply exposures shippers should audit now.
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Intermodal’s 18% Weekly Gain Is Not a Demand Boom—The Holiday Distortion Shippers Should See Before Q4 Bids
AAR’s latest comparison is accurate but calendar-distorted. Actual intermodal volume fell 1.3% from the prior week, while year-to-date growth reached 4.2%. Shippers should separate the headline from the planning signal.
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Diesel Jumped 36.8 Cents in One Week as Truck Freight Prices Rose 2.0%—What Shippers Should Audit Before Q4 Bids
Weekly pump prices and monthly freight-price data now point in the same direction—but they measure different costs. Shippers should separate fuel, linehaul and accessorials before paying twice for the same…
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Fuel Surcharges Are Outrunning Fuel Costs—What Shippers Should Audit Across Rail, Parcel and Ocean
Union Pacific’s $91.1 million second-quarter fuel-surcharge surplus and widening parcel and ocean surcharge gaps give shippers a concrete reason to audit benchmarks, lags and decline provisions.
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CBP Finalizes 24-Hour Rail Export Filing Rule—What U.S.–Canada and Mexico Shippers Must Rebuild Before Enforcement
U.S. rail exporters now face a firm no-data/no-move compliance framework. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has finalized mandatory electronic export manifests for every train departing the United States, creating new…
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Truck Freight Costs Are Up 10.9%—Rail’s Intermodal Conversion Window Is Widening
Truck freight prices remain 10.9% above last year while rail is up only 1.3%. Here is how shippers should test the widening intermodal conversion window lane by lane.
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Rail’s $85 Billion Mega-Merger Review Restarts—Shippers Now Have 86 Days to Protect Their Leverage
The STB restarted its review of the $85 billion Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger and ordered unfiltered workpapers. Shippers now have a narrow window to protect facility-level competition, service baselines and…