Unfilled Railroad Grain Car Orders Persist into 2023
By Daniel Munch
American Farm Bureau Federation
As shared in an October 2022 Market Intel, third quarter domestic rail service data indicated improvements in average rail speeds, unfilled grain car orders and employment numbers. A dive into the most recent data from the Surface Transportation Board, the independent agency tasked with economic regulation of freight rail, reveals an unexpected increase in the unfilled order metric for some Class I railroads, which continues to hinder farmers’ and ranchers’ abilities to move inputs and products efficiently and cost effectively. Other statistics send more positive signals on the domestic supply chain as transportation networks aim for pre-pandemic normalcy.