Views & News

BNSF recently announced the appointment of Dean Wise as its new VP-Network Strategy.  In his new position, Mr. Wise, who was most recently with Norbridge Consulting, will be responsible for haulage management, interline management, network strategy development, public-private partnerships, and short line business development.  Mr. Wise succeeds Peter Rickershauser, who has announced his retirement effective April 30   …Canadian National recently announced the following executive appointments: Keith Creel as EVP & Chief Operating Officer; Jean-Jacques Ruest as EVP & Chief Marketing Officer; Luc Jobin as EVP & Chief Financial Officer; Sean Finn as EVP-Corporate Services & Chief Legal Officer; Kim Madigan as VP-Human Resources; Robert Noorigian as VP-Investor Relations; Jeff Liepelt as SVP-Eastern Region; and Karen Phillips as VP-Public & Government Affairs   …Canadian National has announced that it will make an initial donation of C$100,000 to the Red Cross in support of the agency’s relief efforts in Haiti, which suffered a major earthquake on January 12.  CN said that it would also match employee donations to the Red Cross dollar-for-dollar   …Officials of Chicago’s Chicago Region Environmental & Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) noted completion of another project of the program, the upgrading of McCook interlocking.  McCook locates approximately 13 miles west of downtown Chicago, where BNSF’s Transcon Line crosses the CSX-Indiana Harbor Belt route between Blue Island and Franklin Park, IL.  The upgrading allows trains to increase their speed through the interlocking from 10mph to 25mph   …The Port of Seattle recently completed the purchase of the 42-mile BNSF line between Snohomish, WA and Renton, WA, which runs via the east side of Lake Washington.  The purchase price was $81.4 million.  BNSF will continue to provide freight rail service over the line, which is also slated for future commuter rail service and a bike and hiking trail alongside it   …The Obama Administration has nominated Jeffrey Moreland to the Amtrak board of directors.  Mr. Moreland was a longtime attorney for the Sante Fe and then the BNSF, retiring in 2007 as the latter’s executive vice president for public affairs   …The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics recently reported the final results of a 2007 commodity flow survey.  The report stated that rail movements that year totaled approximately 1.9 billion tons and 1.3 trillion ton-miles, representing 40 percent of all ton-miles.  The report also stated that trucking accounted for another 40 percent of all ton-miles and that all rail, truck and water shipments totaled 12.5 billion tons and 3.3 trillion ton-miles   …The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration has announced the appointment of Dr. Magdy El-Sibaie as its deputy associate administrator for safety, regulatory, and legislative affairs.  Dr. El-Sibaie, who was recently FRA’s director of research and development and has most recently served as the acting associate administrator for hazardous materials of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, will succeed Grady Cothen, who has announced plans to retire from the FRA in March   …The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board recently released its new Customer Service Plan.  The RRB’s plan lays out its customer service standards and the levels of services that customers can expect.  For a summary of the plan, link to http://www.rrb.gov/opa/qa/pub_1001.asp.

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