North American Rail Freight Down 10.5% Through 37 Weeks: AAR

The Association of American Railroads now has 37 mostly painful weeks of traffic data. The decline, driven by a sputtering global economy suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, the worst health crisis since the 1918 H1N1 pandemic, saw total traffic (carload and intermodal) fall 10.5% in North America—11.2% in the U.S., 8.1% in Canada (where the coronavirus appears to be under much better control than its neighbor to the south), and 9.6% in Mexico.

Braskem Launches Commercial Production at its New Polypropylene Production Line in La Porte, Texas

Braskem America announced the successful launch of commercial production at its newest polypropylene production line located in La Porte, Texas. Braskem's new line has a production capacity of over 450,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr; or 1 billion pounds per year) and has the capability to produce the entire polypropylene portfolio.

NTSB Renews Call for Mandated Cameras on Locomotives

The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday reiterated its call for federal regulators to mandate the use of inward- and outward-facing cameras on locomotives. The announcement follows the board's investigation of a 2019 collision between two CSX trains in Ohio, in which investigators found that the engineer of one train was impaired by his use of alcohol at the time of the accident.

Federal Frants Awarded to Improve Freight Rail and Multimodal Traffic Flows

Expanding local freight rail networks and facilitating multimodal access were among the goals of several projects that have been awarded competitive federal grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT awarded $1 billion overall to 77 projects in 44 states under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) transportation discretionary grants program.

Northwest Alabama Plant Closing, 500 Jobs Lost Due to Mexico Outsourcing

FreightCar America is closing its manufacturing facility in Colbert County, with approximately 500 local jobs being terminated in the process. The company confirmed in a release that its Cherokee, Alabama, plant will be closed, with those operations being shipped to Castaños, Mexico, in an effort to "consolidate."

In Pennsylvania, Gas Drilling is Down, but Production Higher Than it Has Ever Been

More natural gas was fracked from Pennsylvania wells in 2019 than in any previous year, although the number of new wells drilled declined, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP's 2019 Oil and Gas Annual Report, released Monday, shows 6.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was produced last year from the state's Marcellus and Utica shale gas formations.

Shoals Economic Development Authority Working to Find Replacement for FreightCar America

A freight car manufacturer in the Shoals has announced that it's closing in 2021 and economic leaders are already working on finding a replacement. FreightCar America announced the closure in a statement last week. The company said layoffs will take place between November and February.

Homebuilder Confidence Increases to Record High in September

U.S. single-family homebuilder confidence increased to a record high in September as historically low mortgage rates continue to boost the housing market despite the COVID-19 recession, which has left tens of millions of Americans unemployed. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose five points to an all-time high of 83 this month, data showed on Wednesday.

Stealth Alert: China's Back on its Biggest Commodity Buying Spree in Years

Quietly and without any fanfare China has steadily increased its buying of certain strategic commodities including cobalt, iron ore and some foodstuffs over recent weeks and months. The industrial powerhouse has stepped up its purchases of coal, rising 6.8 per cent on year, while iron ore is 11.8 per cent higher on year, and soya bean volumes have risen 17.7 per cent.

Laude Smart Intermodal Orders 1,000 Flat Cars

United Wagon Company and Laude Smart Intermodal signed a contract for the development and supply of a flat car fleet comprising 1,000 units. The flat cars will be used to transport the containers along the Russia–Poland transport corridor.