Hello & Goodbye — a RailTrends '22 preview by Tony Hatch

RailTrends 2022 is around the corner (Nov. 15-16 in NYC) and, although we feared matching the excitement of last year and the return from hibernation, we somehow managed to pull off what we think will be our best yet — a combination of excitement, hard critical thinking, and the bittersweetness of saying “Hello Goodbye,” as the Beatles sang.

 After the most five tumultuous years in modern rail history, and following the steady upward trend line I called the “railroad renaissance,” to catalogue — trade wars, PSR implementation, labor shortages/negotiations, service improvements then crises, M&A and activists, extreme weather and ESG opportunities, existential tech challenges (and opportunities) — one has to wonder: Will the rails ever reach their potential? We will try to address this question with a schedule that includes a multitude of CEOs, other change agents, tech players, best-in-class consultants (Oliver Wyman, for one), and entrepreneurial visionaries such as Watco’s Rick Webb, our 2022 Railroad Innovator Award winner.

Also: We proudly note the best attendee list in the industry, as in those coming to “just” to listen but not speak — except at the cocktail party — include a major short-line CEO, several STB Commissioners, the top marketing folks at the largest rail supplier, many top Class I strategists, etc.

At RT22, we’ll say hello to:

• CN CEO Tracy Robinson: She’s no longer quite a newcomer, but this will be her first visit to RT after Hurricane Sandy washed her out of the agenda (as a CP exec!) way back in 2012.

• CPKC CEO Keith Creel: OK, this is a reach — not only has KC been a regular, he is a Railroad Innovator Award recipient (2014) and has joined several other years — but coming about three months before expected (guaranteed) STB approval, I can almost say it’s hello to the newco CEO.

• Aurizon (the largest railway Down Under) CEO and Managing Director Andrew Harding!

• Rail Association heads: OK, that’s the oldest RT feature, but we have a new format — a fireside chat with Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker.

• Two from the critical emerging tech front: Union Pacific Railroad SVP of Information Technologies and CIO Rahul Jalali; and from RailPulse, no stranger to RT, we’ll hear not just from old friend Mike McClellan of Norfolk Southern but also RP partners Eric Monger of VP of KBX Rail (don’t miss!), Josh Perkes of VP Loup Logistics (a Union Pacific subsidiary) and RailPulse GM David Shannon. (Note: Along with UP, NS will also “double-dip” as we’ll hear from CMO Ed Elkins too!)

We will say goodbye to my two oldest friends in the business:

• Ex-CNW and CN Investor Relations head who made good, Jim Foote of CSX, giving what I might be so presumptuous to call his valedictory address (and with multiple STB commissioners in the audience and a long happy retirement in front of him). Jim was our 2020 Railroad Innovator Award recipient. (We do look forward to saying hello soon to new CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs.)

• And: Ex-ATSF Treasurer Pat Ottensmeyer of Kansas City Southern. Pat, of course, also made good: He was our 2019 Railroad Innovator Award winner. 

And finally, maybe not as dramatic as Hello or Goodbye … maybe just a regular check-in or a “What’s Up?”:

• Analysts (Gross Transportation Consulting’s Larry Gross and Loop Capital Markets’ Rick Paterson and … me); rail cars (Integrity Rail Partners’ Dick Kloster), DC supplier association leaders (REMSA’s Urzsula Soucie, NRC’s Ashley Wieland and new RSI President Patty Long); and Railway Association of Canada President and CEO Marc Brazeau. 

• The entrepreneurialism of the short lines will once again feature in an unmissable panel (R. J. Corman Railroad Group EVP of Commercial Affairs Justin Broyles; Anacostia Rail Holdings Co. VP and Chief Commercial Officer Eric Jakubowski; Watco EVP and CCO Stefan Loeb; Genesee & Wyoming Inc. President of North America Michael Miller; and Railroad Development Corp. Chairman Henry Posner III.)

• And what annually is the most-talked-about presentation, a thought-provoking talk by Oliver Wyman Rail Partner Adriene Bailey in the role created by Dr. Doom himself, Rod Case!

So, come to NYC and say hello! To register, visit railtrends.com.