Railroad News

Kansas City Southern recently promoted Warren Erdman from executive vice president of corporate affairs to EVP of administration and corporate affairs, effective April 1. He will report to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Haverty.

In addition to his current responsibilities for federal, state and local government and regulatory affairs, corporate communications and community relations, Erdman now will manage administrative functions, including the legal department, claims, real estate, industrial development, facilities and U.S. railroad police security.

Prior to joining KCS in 1997, he was chief of staff for Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) for 10 years. Erdman also previously served on the staffs of Missouri governors John Ashcroft and Christopher Bond.

H. Pier Clifford, the driving force behind Norfolk Southern Corp.’s logo and “Thoroughbred” branding, died March 20 in Paoli, Pa. He was 80.

Clifford, who retired from NS in 1987, was the railroad’s advertising manager in 1982 when Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway merged and sought a new logo and brand image for the combined organization. He worked with various company officers and advisors to review about 200 logo prototypes before settling on a bold, slanted “NS” followed by five speedlines.

But Clifford believed something was missing. In a recent interview, he recalled that an animal was considered to give the logo an “instant visual.”

by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., managing editor

For more than a decade, the commonwealth of Virginia has sought to add lanes to Interstate 81 to relieve heavy truck congestion. The 846-mile highway stretches 323 miles in Virginia — the longest I-81 segment in any state.

Virginia most recently considered a plan to add two lanes to the interstate commonwealth-wide. To be funded by tolls, the project would cost about $13 billion over 20 years.

The conditional tense reigned supreme during the reporting of a number of stories in this month's issue — from the cover piece on Norfolk Southern Railway's $2.5 billion Crescent Corridor, which the Class I plans to establish via the public-private partnership route ("If funding falls into place, then the 2,500-mile domestic intermodal corridor will, too.") to our RailTrends summit recap ("If railroads can hold off the D.C. threats while embracing the D.C. opportunities, productivity and earnings growth will be explosive, and marketshare opportunities in medium and short lengths of haul will be dramatic.") to our rail-car repair market update. The latter story's slant: If the economy picks up, so will repair work.

A lot of the "if/then" talk is tied to economic recovery, whenever and however it'll begin its creep, but not all of it. Every railroad seeking a public funding commitment of any kind is having conditional conversations with the governmental powers that be and, increasingly, the communities they serve: "If you fund this project, XYZ benefits will come."

Similar to the other Class Is, Kansas City Southern was rocked by the recession’s impact on revenue and earnings in the first quarter, but steadied itself by controlling costs.

Today, KCS reported revenue of $346 million, down 23 percent compared with first-quarter 2008. The Class I’s traffic volume declined 15 percent primarily because of the weak U.S., Mexican and global economies, reduced fuel surcharge revenues and a weakened Mexican peso. Revenue dropped in four of five business lines, with only coal recording volume and revenue gains.

KCS recorded a net loss of $7.5 million compared with net income of $32.9 million in first-quarter 2008. The railroad reported a negative impact of $5.9 million from debt retirement costs and $5.1 million in a foreign exchange loss associated with the weakened peso.