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October 26, 1999 9:43 AM, EDT

TORONTO — Shippers availed themselves of another opportunity to beat up on the railroads over issues of productivity and competition at the Council of Logistics Management’s annual meeting last week.

No one denied that better rail service is vital to improving America’s transportation productivity.

“Railroads are playing prevent defense,” Edward M. Emmett, president of the National Industrial Transportation League, said during a panel discussion Oct. 18. “They are doing everything they can to hold on to what they’ve got rather than providing a standard of service that enables them to broaden their customer base.”

Earnest Valentine, manager of traffic for Thomas & Betts, a manufacturer of electrical components and cellular telephone towers in Hager City, Wis., said that in these days of mergers and consolidations, railroads have not been able to provide reliable service, and that the split of Conrail, which merged with CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern, has created additional aggravation for shippers. “We are concerned about customer service. Some of us have waited for more than five years for service to improve,” Valentine said.

For the full story, see the Oct. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. .