Railroads to hold customer service summit

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 4) — North America’s largest railroads will hold a one-day meeting with shippers focusing on communications issues in Chicago on March 9 in a further attempt to counter complaints that the industry is out of touch with customers.

The meeting, organized by the Association of American Railroads, is the continuation of a series of “outreach” sessions held last year.

Presentations will focus on four elements of the communications process: the railroad service cycle, which will be presented by Rick Turner, vice president-customer service at Union Pacific; railroad transaction cycle by Tay Lyman, vice-president-customer support at Burlington Northern Santa Fe; tracking, tracing, and notification by Brock Winter, assistant vice president-customer service at Canadian Pacific Railway; and problem resolution by Larry Estep, assistant vice president-transportation customer service at Norfolk Southern.

U.S. Surface Transportation Board chairman Linda Morgan, who attended all five of the customer outreach meetings sponsored by the railroads last year, also will address the symposium.

The meeting will be held at the Westin O’Hare from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the association said.

For more information, contact the AAR at 202/639-2100.