The US Surface Transportation board recently held hearings to investigate alleged service failures by the BNSF and Canadian Pacific rail lines, according to news reports. The hearings,held in Washington, D.C., on April 10, were to address service problems that have been occurring on significant portions of the nation’s rail network. Shippers were invited to report on recent service problems and rail service executives would be asked to explain why these problems have been occurring.
On March 14, the Western Coal Traffic League complained to the board that BNSF’s service problems have “reached crisis proportions for numerous BNSF coal transportation companies” and that many of the its members “fear they will run out of coal, if not now, by summer.”