This year, the outlook is decidedly different. Plagued by weak economic growth and slumps in certain sectors—including the housing and automotive markets—carload and intermodal loadings are down this year and we’ve reported that shippers have been far from satisfied with the service their receiving on the rails.

In fact, our Jeff Berman recently reported that service complaints and general dissatisfaction are on the rise this year. The Surface Transportation Board is being taken to task by politicians and shipper groups for a “broken railroad system” that’s been a detriment to moving freight and “harming the country’s economic vitality.”

While pressure is squarely on Rail/Intermodal Service Providers to improve service, we’re pleased to announce that LM readers found 10 Rail/Intermodal Service Providers and Intermodal Marketing Companies that have been able to keep up the pace on the rails this past year and maintain high-quality service in this demanding market.

It’s important to note that even with the well-publicized service criticism over the past year, the overall weighted average for the Rail/Intermodal Service Providers category actually went up about a half a point over 2006. Shippers gave the highest marks to Triple Crown Services (31.98), BNSF Railway (31.29), Norfolk Southern (30.18), and Canadian Pacific Railway (29.86). This is the third year in a row that BNSF has trotted into the winner’s circle to receive Quest for Quality gold, and the second year in a row for Triple Crown and Norfolk.

Triple Crown took honors in top On-time Performance (10.37), Value (8.57), Customer Service (5.04), and Equipment & Operations (4.71)—top numbers considering the current rail environment. BNSF came in a close second on On-time Performance (10.27), but led the way with the best Information Technology score (3.68).

Shippers are placing the Quest for Quality victory wreath around six Intermodal Marketing Companies this year.

While overall weighted average for the category dipped about a point from 2006 and two points from 2005, shippers still handed out some pretty impressive numbers. NYK Logistics (33.55) won over Landstar Logistics (32.65), while C.H. Robinson (31.91), Hub Group (31.50), Alliance Shippers (31.19), and J.B. Hunt Intermodal (31.06) all crossed the finish line with higher than average weighted averages.