Hunter Harrison and Wick Moorman among RailTrends 2013 speakers

— by Pat Foran, Editor

The freight-rail realm remains on a slow-growth ride, the kind of slow that can make even the most optimistic of half-fullers question their stopwatches. "At what point is slow growth tantamount to no growth at all? If we're in a no-growth zone, how close might we be to another downturn?" I've heard these questions a bit more often this year, especially near the end of the first half — not surprising, considering how long the industry's been slow-growing it. But the bigger picture hasn't changed: Freight rail remains a growth industry, rail execs and most industry analysts continue to tell me. Growth certainly will be a theme at our annual RailTrends® summit, which will be held Nov. 21-22, at the W New York Hotel in New York City.

This year's RailTrends lineup is laden with industry leaders who can see the forest and the trees. Speakers include:

• Norfolk Southern Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman, who has charted a unique course at NS, helping to keep the railroad on the better-service track. He is this year's recipient of our Railroad Innovator Award.
• Canadian Pacific Railway CEO E. Hunter Harrison, who has changed more than a few minds about how railroads work and why. Harrison received our first Railroad Innovator Award in 2009.
• NS President Jim Squires, who was named to his newest post in May after serving The Thoroughbred in various leadership capacities, most recently as EVP of administration.
• CSX Corp. VP and Chief Transportation Officer Cindy Sanborn, who has helped drive safety, service and productivity improvements at CSX.
• A panel of short-line leaders — Genesee & Wyoming Inc. President and CEO Jack Hellmann, Watco Cos. L.L.C. CEO Rick Webb, and Indiana Rail Road Co. President and CEO Tom Hoback — will provide insight into the not-so-small small-railroad world.
• Aurizon Holdings Ltd. (formerly QR National) Managing Director and CEO Lance Hockridge, who will help us connect rail's global dots by discussing railroad challenges and opportunities in Australia.

A host of other rail analysts and policy shapers will be with us, as well, talking short- and long-term trends — from the energy shift to the intermodal evolution to other plot lines that make rail a sure (if currently slow) growth story. For more information on the event, visit www.railtrends.com.