Sep 11, 2026 · 28 min · 11 segments
When the rail network slows down, shippers need more cars to move the same amount of freight and that has direct consequences for fleet leasing, demurrage costs, and supply chain planning…
Matt EversonGuest
Bill StephensHost
And it's the middle part of that process that we're interested in talking about today, right? Which is how the network performs affects a lot about what shippers need to do in terms of planning.
yeah so you know right now it's summertime you know it's not a lot of uh craziness out there not a lot of um weather delays you know within you know tracking and trace of rail cars um i should say that we we mainly stay on bulk brake bulk so rail full truck load um but in that specialty equipment type right um and on the rail side It's pretty low-key out there.
I don't think there's a lot of delays that we're seeing right now as what we would see in the
How has service been holding up when you look at it from a historic standpoint?
The number of rail cars is actually up overall, but that's largely because of coal.
um you know from from all industries it's up i think one or two percent last i heard um but uh um but but down in in various markets right chemicals plastics oil and gas um definitely the number of shipments is is down but when you think of you know everything being shipped on the railroads today and that number being up capacity has tightened um and so it's it's a little slower than what we've seen um you know Historically over the years, I know we had a spike around COVID time, as did everybody, but it flattened out.
And do you think that is primarily due to the volume increase this year? We have seen some pretty strong intermodal growth and that takes capacity and the bulk shipments and carload freight is competing for that same capacity.
You know, when I was first talking about this, I was thinking more bulk because that's kind of where my head goes.
But yeah, the container side of the house and you see, you know, full truckload has had has its challenges.
know we haven't seen before right i think it's growing five seven percent on the container side um largely because of the the constraints that are on the full truck load uh but that is the same you know engines that are operating operating the the containers as they are operating the bulk and so that is that is a part of the the slowdown absolutely
And what are you seeing in terms of a slowdown? And when did it start? Is it tied to the rise in gas prices, which also kind of coincided with steps the administration was taking to crack down on, or I shouldn't say crack down, but enforce trucking commercial driver's license regulations.
And that helped tighten truck capacity right at the time that the fuel prices were rising, right? Yeah.
You know, I think there's, you know, I kind of look at three economic factors that are a big part that we're dealing with today.
The fuel prices are one, right? You know, some people would call the war in the Middle East, right, has caused some issues and constraints.
You know, the tariffs, the tariffs and, you know, global tariffs that we've all been accustomed to here the last few years, you know, and, you know, What's happening with full truckload is these data centers.
These data centers are causing a constraint on the capacity because as they're being built out all over, you can imagine flatbed truckloads are being pulled into directions they hadn't been pulled in before into different industries.
Thus, when people have to get their freight moved, they've got to pull it one way or the other.
And what are you seeing now from a network speed deceleration and how has that affected car supply and transit times and how shippers are planning for this? And do you expect, based on history, when you see volume increases, do you see a further slowdown or do you think railroad service is going to hold up?
And it's the middle part of that process that we're interested in talking about today, right? Which is how the network performs affects a lot about what shippers need to do in terms of planning.
yeah so you know right now it's summertime you know it's not a lot of uh craziness out there not a lot of um weather delays you know within you know tracking and trace of rail cars um i should say that we we mainly stay on bulk brake bulk so rail full truck load um but in that specialty equipment type right um and on the rail side It's pretty low-key out there.
I don't think there's a lot of delays that we're seeing right now as what we would see in the
How has service been holding up when you look at it from a historic standpoint?
The number of rail cars is actually up overall, but that's largely because of coal.
um you know from from all industries it's up i think one or two percent last i heard um but uh um but but down in in various markets right chemicals plastics oil and gas um definitely the number of shipments is is down but when you think of you know everything being shipped on the railroads today and that number being up capacity has tightened um and so it's it's a little slower than what we've seen um you know Historically over the years, I know we had a spike around COVID time, as did everybody, but it flattened out.
And do you think that is primarily due to the volume increase this year? We have seen some pretty strong intermodal growth and that takes capacity and the bulk shipments and carload freight is competing for that same capacity.
You know, when I was first talking about this, I was thinking more bulk because that's kind of where my head goes.
But yeah, the container side of the house and you see, you know, full truckload has had has its challenges.
know we haven't seen before right i think it's growing five seven percent on the container side um largely because of the the constraints that are on the full truck load uh but that is the same you know engines that are operating operating the the containers as they are operating the bulk and so that is that is a part of the the slowdown absolutely
And what are you seeing in terms of a slowdown? And when did it start? Is it tied to the rise in gas prices, which also kind of coincided with steps the administration was taking to crack down on, or I shouldn't say crack down, but enforce trucking commercial driver's license regulations.
And that helped tighten truck capacity right at the time that the fuel prices were rising, right? Yeah.
You know, I think there's, you know, I kind of look at three economic factors that are a big part that we're dealing with today.
The fuel prices are one, right? You know, some people would call the war in the Middle East, right, has caused some issues and constraints.
You know, the tariffs, the tariffs and, you know, global tariffs that we've all been accustomed to here the last few years, you know, and, you know, What's happening with full truckload is these data centers.
These data centers are causing a constraint on the capacity because as they're being built out all over, you can imagine flatbed truckloads are being pulled into directions they hadn't been pulled in before into different industries.
Thus, when people have to get their freight moved, they've got to pull it one way or the other.
And what are you seeing now from a network speed deceleration and how has that affected car supply and transit times and how shippers are planning for this? And do you expect, based on history, when you see volume increases, do you see a further slowdown or do you think railroad service is going to hold up?
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