b'6American Journal of Transportation ajot.comDCs freight debate:Its a matter of trustsIntermodal largely neglected inKansas City Southern saga begins again federal infrastructure proposals By George Lauriat, AJOTOn August 31st, the U.S. Surfaceuseofavotingtrustinthecontext But passenger rail is to receive massive investments. TransportationBoard(STB)rejectedof the impending control application thevotingtrustproposedbythedoes not meet the standards under the By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTCanadian National Railway (CN) in itscurrent merger regulations and there-pursuit to procure Kansas City South- fore denies the applicants motion for Its well known that rail is one ofcurrentadministrationandCongres- ern (KCS) rail.authorization to establish and use the the cleanest ways to move freight. Forsional priorities. On the contrary, U.S.For CN, the STB decision was aproposed voting trust. anadministrationintentontacklingSenate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, ashocker.CNproposedmergeragree- Theconceptbehindthevoting the ravages of climate change, invest- Democrat of Illinois, has been quotedment was thought to be superior to thattrustistoallowtheKCSassets mentsinintermodalinfrastructureas saying that freight railroads haveof rival Canadian Pacifics (CP) dealtoremainindependentwhilethe would therefore seem to be a naturaltaken preference over passenger railfor KCS. CPs deal is about $31 billionmerger deal is worked out. In this case, priority. But theres scant evidence offor too long. while CNs bid is around $33.6 billion.the STB didnt believe the CN voting thatinPresidentJoeBidensmuch- Bidens infrastructure plans seemBoth bids for KCS include a mix oftrust would do that and that the service ballyhooedinfrastructureproposals,intent on righting that alleged wrong,cash and stock and the assumption ofconflicts between CN and KCS could although some funding could providewith$80billionofinvestmentsinabout $3.8 billion in KCS debt. potentially be an anti-trust problem.indirect help. Amtrak, a pet project of the president, aOn September 4th, the KCS boardConversely,CPsvotingtrust Thatsnottosaytheadminis- one-time long-term Amtrak commuter.said that the lower CP bid could be ahadalreadybeenapprovedlargely trationhasmadenocommitmenttoAlthough the infrastructure plan largelybetter deal for the railroad as the STBbecause of fewer competitive concerns intermodal. Recent announcements ofneglects intermodal freight, some of itswouldnt have to hold the potentially by the STB and thus would circum-INFRA grants from the U.S. Depart- provisions, such as projects aimed atlengthyreviewoftheoveralldealvent the need for a lengthy review. mentofTransportationearmarkedalleviatingcongestionatports,couldthat vetting the voting trust wouldForthatreason,KCSsboard $47milliontotheGeorgiaPortsimprove the flow of containers to thenecessitate for the CN deal to succeed.agreed to revisit CPs proposal, even Authority for its new inland containerintermodal system. According to the STB, The proposed(TRUSTScontinued on page 17)port in Gainesville, as well as to other intermodal projects in South Carolina and Iowa. But priorities in the infra-structure legislation Congress is now considering emphasize investments in passenger rail, not freight.Thatsunfortunateforasystem in which many intermodal connectors areneglected,accordingtoChris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Association (ATA). Just nine percent are in good or very good condition, he said. He wants federal dollars to be directed toward their improvement.Promoting intermodal means taking trucksoffthenationshighways, and that could go a long way toward reducinggreenhousegasemissions (GHG).Railintermodaltransporta-tion holds great potential for replac-ingcarbon-intenseandfast-growing roadfreight,notedarecentreport from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.AccordingtoAlexanderLaska,a transportation policy advisor at the think tank Third Way, rail emits 0.048 pounds of GHG per ton-mile of freight moved, the lowest of any transportation mode, andone-tenththe0.465poundsper ton-mile emitted by trucks. According to the Carnegie Mellon report, studies in Europe have shown that intermodal shipmentsused16%lessenergythan roadshipments,andhaveanaverage carbon intensity half that of trucks.Modeshiftingisdifficult,par-ticularlyforlow-weight,high-value goodsthataretypicallyshippedby truck, Laska said. Rail tends to be amorecommonoptionforlonger-distance trips, although rail is increas-inglymovinggoodsbetweencloser distancesintheintermodalsector, thanks,inpart,toinvestmentsto improve customer visibility and align movements to precise schedules. Congress should consider imple-menting policies that would encour-agemodeshiftsbyincreasingrails value proposition to shippers, Laska added. This could include providing additional assistance through existing grant programs to improve rail infra-structureandintermodalterminals. Funding should also be available for investmentsinnewtechnologiesto improveterminaloperations,better track shipment loads, improve secu-rity and quality control, and optimize intermodal shipments.But not much of that is reflected in'