(Bloomberg) -- The slowdown that North American railroad
companies had been bracing for in crude oil shipments has turned
into a rout, with volumes falling faster than executives had
predicted.
With energy companies scaling back drilling after prices
for the commodity fell about 50 percent since July, industry
executives and analysts anticipated that demand for hauling
crude and extraction materials such as frac sand and pipes would
slow after a four-year surge. They didn’t expect it to slow this
much this fast.
