Harris + David unpack the presentation Harris delivered at MARS + the research behind it. The headline finding: train speed + volume are negatively correlated, which means record service metrics may say more about a thin network than a well-run one.
From there, the conversation turns to the constraints on growth. Is freight rail demand constrained, or is it really that supply is constrained? What happened to service between 2014 + 2024 as the industry chased operating ratio? Why should rail be indexed to industrial production rather than GDP? And what does it mean that, over the past twenty years, every dollar of capital expenditure has been matched by roughly a dollar fifty returned to shareholders?
Talk Track, hosted by Harris Ligon + David Correll of Telegraph™, is a spin-off series dedicated to timely rail industry news. From service shakeups to technology breakthroughs, each episode delivers a behind-the-scenes perspective on all the happenings shaping the future of freight rail.
Harris + David will bring their decades of rail experience to help them parse through the latest industry headlines, evolving regulations, + the long-term forecasts for how railroads move freight across North America. Find us at telegraph.io/insights, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.