COVID-19 impact on rail service
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:28 pm
Obviously we know that the Cornoavirus outbreak which is causing COVID-19 has eliminated or lessened the frequency of many passenger rail services. Have the freight railroads been impacted significantly and if not, what will the biggest impacts be in your opinion?
My thinking is the biggest impact initially will be with the shutdown of the auto manufacturing plants. You will see a reduction in the transportation of finished automobiles and the inbound auto parts traffic (what little still remains). It would not shock me to see auto specific train annulments starting within the next couple days.
I'm not sure what the next area to be significantly impacted will be though. The biggest issue will be if industries start being shut down as a result of state shelter in place orders.
I do think overall there will be a significant downturn in rail traffic in the near term.
One other area that is going to be hit and hit hard is the transportation of crude oil. This is not directly due to the virus outbreak, but is a combination of many factors. The price of crude has tanked from its price a few months ago, partially due to political battles. As a result some of the tougher to extract oil reserves will not be operated to capacity, thus reducing the reliance on rail transportation to transport those crude supplies.
My thinking is the biggest impact initially will be with the shutdown of the auto manufacturing plants. You will see a reduction in the transportation of finished automobiles and the inbound auto parts traffic (what little still remains). It would not shock me to see auto specific train annulments starting within the next couple days.
I'm not sure what the next area to be significantly impacted will be though. The biggest issue will be if industries start being shut down as a result of state shelter in place orders.
I do think overall there will be a significant downturn in rail traffic in the near term.
One other area that is going to be hit and hit hard is the transportation of crude oil. This is not directly due to the virus outbreak, but is a combination of many factors. The price of crude has tanked from its price a few months ago, partially due to political battles. As a result some of the tougher to extract oil reserves will not be operated to capacity, thus reducing the reliance on rail transportation to transport those crude supplies.