Rail
Large Language Models (LLMs) have historically struggled with numerical data, primarily because they are, at their core, language models. But OpenAI has aspirations to move into the business intelligence and analytics spaces. One way is through the Advanced Data Analysis…
Fuel savings technologies, such as top-of-rail friction modifiers or solid stick wheel flange lubrication, offer the prospect of savings millions of dollars in fuel cost. At the same time the investment is also in the millions of dollars. Putting a…
The title of this post is a quote credited to Winston Churchill, although the attribution is questionable. It conveys the notion that dramatic events generate new insights and create opportunities for growth. Put another way, "look for the silver lining."…
A friend of First Analytics, aware of our safety work in the railroad industry, asked, "so what do you think of all the train derailments?" He had seen reports of three derailments just within the last few days. With the…
As of Monday, November 21st, 2022, the prospects of averting a nationwide rail strike appear to be grim. The Federal government intervened in September, avoiding a strike at that time. But there was a sense that this was just "kicking…
Tension between railroad management and workers is high. Attendance policies associated with grueling work schedules and safety concerns related to Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) are at the top of the list of complaints voiced by labor unions. Government regulators have…
After three decades of steady decreases, the rate of highway/rail accidents bottomed out in 2012. But it has been trending upward ever since. The graph shows that in 2012 the incident rate reached its all-time low of 2.72 incidents per…
With supply chain issues topping recent news, the railroad industry is under scrutiny for how well they operate their networks. As a follow-up to our previous post about railroad industry operating ratio, we here consider how analytics and machine learning…
As a heavy industry, railroads seek to appeal to the finance community by focusing on metrics that speak to the company’s efficient utilization of its assets. A key metric is Operating Ratio, which is defined as operating expenses as a…
Year-over-year comparisons can attribute too much of a volume decline to COVID-19. That is what we showed at the beginning of the pandemic, with predictive analytics applied to railroad car loadings data from the American Association of Railroads (AAR). The…