More opportunities for steel as railroads expand

Dec 10, 2010 | 12:15 PM |

Railroad systems are growing and transportation companies are investing more on infrastructure and technology to keep pace with demand and to meet federal safety regulations.

Vee Kachroo, vice president of industrial products at Canadian National Railway Co. (CN), Montreal, said during AMM's fifth annual Moving Metals Conference in Pittsburgh that his company is hiring thousands of employees and adding more rail car capacity.

Kachroo said steel customers have told him that the railroad needs to work more like the trucking industry. To that end, he said, CN is creating a rolling order forecast with a three-day cutoff rather than scheduling routes with a seven-day forecast. "That's the market we're in. We could say, 'This is the way the railroad works,' but we are working collectively now—we are listening."....