SMART UnionWASHINGTON — President Obama Feb. 23 named BNSF CEO Matt Rose, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and United Food and Commercial Workers’ Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Hansen to the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
The three join a long list of mostly business executives and bankers on the council.
Its task is to recommend ways to promote growth and bolster U.S. competitiveness in fulfilling Obama’s State of the Union pledge to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build” other nations.
WASHINGTON — Rail traffic for the week ending Jan. 15 continued its upward climb, reports the Association of American Railroads.
Carloads were up by 7.5 percent compared with the same week in 2010, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) showed a gain of 5.8 percent over the same week in 2010.
The AAR reported that for the first two weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported an increase of 13.5 percent in carloads and 7.2 percent in intermodal.
Rail traffic continued its torrid growth the first week of 2011, with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reporting freight carloadings were up more than 20 percent versus the same week in 2010, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) were up almost 9 percent from the first week of 2010.
This comes on the heels of a banner year for freight railroads in 2010. The AAR said the combined increase in total annual carloads and intermodal in 2010 was equivalent to some 20,000 additional trains moving when compared with 2009.
It was one a pretty good year in 2010 for freight railroads.
Although freight volume trailed pre-recession 2008 figures, the nation’s major railroads reported a healthy 7.3 percent jump in carload traffic and a 14.2 percent increase in intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars).
AAR officials called the 52-week figures “a positive development.”
Carload traffic remains about 10 percent below pre-recession levels, but its rate of growth continues to increase.
U.S. Class I railroad traffic continued its growth trend through the Christmas holiday week, reports the Association of American Railroads.
Carloads were up almost 30 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) was up more than 25 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009.
The AAR reported that for the first 51 weeks of 2010, carloads are up more than 7 percent and intermodal is up more than 14 percent over the first 51 weeks of 2009.