Another railroad performance measure I follow is average train speed. This measure, speed, is a pain in my fucking ass. Because financial disclosure regulations do not require it, railroads report speed whenever the fuck they feel like it or, in the case of Canadian National (CNI), almost never. However, reporting has […]

Yield, or revenue per car is another railroad performance measure I calculate. Because the capital and operating costs of rail are similar no matter if they are filled with raw sewage or gold, railroads with a higher yield are in a better position to put mad cash in their shareholders’ pockets. Keep in […]

I like railroads as an investment for the following reasons:

Simple to understand - railroads move heavy shit from point to point;
Macro-economic effects on railroads are easy to figure out - when the economy is good, people are shipping stuff, when it crashes, volume goes down;
Efficiency, railroads use substantially less fuel to transport […]