Service issues linger

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/2000

The lingering impact of rail mergers has cast a pall over this year's quality survey of rail carriers. During the last five years, three major rail combinations have taken place in North America—the latest of which was the takeover of Conrail by CSX and Norfolk Southern Corp. The consolidation of rail traffic into fewer hands has prompted numerous shipper complaints about poor service, and our survey indicates shippers' widespread dissatisfaction with the railroad industry as a whole.

Overall performance scores for standard rail service fell across all categories. The average on-time performance assessment, for instance, tumbled from 9.58 in 1999 to 8.74 this year. The value score dropped from 7.41 last year to 6.60. The information-technology score dropped from 3.32 last year to 2.93. The customer-service score went from 5.40 in 1999 to 5.24 this year. Even the equipment and operations score slipped, going from 5.06 to 5.00 this year.

Despite the general dissatisfaction with the industry, rail shippers in our survey did cite two carriers for excellence: the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Wisconsin Central, a regional railroad that received the highest rail-carrier rating this year. Last year, by contrast, seven railroads received gold medals for performance.

As for intermodal marketing companies (IMCs), shippers gave kudos to Hub Group, C.H. Robinson, and GST Corp. The overall scores for these providers fell in all categories except customer service and operations. The IMCs' customer-service score rose from 5.80 in 1999 to 6.05 this year. The rating for equipment and operations, meanwhile, increased from 5.29 last year to 5.34 this year.

Among intermodal service providers, readers recognized Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for excellence. Overall, though, these providers fared poorly in comparison with last year except in the area of customer service, where ratings climbed from 5.44 last year to 5.64 this year.

2000 Readers' Choice

Railroads

(Standard Rail Service)

• Wisconsin Central