Tom Murray is a transportation consultant with more than 25 years of professional experience, including management of rail and intermodal terminals, administration of marketing and pricing activities for Class I railroads, and consulting for private and public sector clients. His range of experience includes railroad field operations, commercial and marketing activities, process re-engineering, data systems development, and financial and economic analysis. He is also a writer on transportation topics with emphasis on financial and investment issues.
In 1997, Mr. Murray launched a newsletter, Rail StockWatch, covering the rail industry from a financial perspective. Coverage focuses on earnings and stock performance of publicly-traded rail industry companies, as well as analysis of industry trends and outlook. The readership includes railroad and rail supply company executives, Wall Street and regional financial analysts, and individual investors.
He has written articles for TRAINS magazine on railroad operations and economics, and is a quarterly columnist for the magazine, writing on a variety of rail industry issues. He is the author of five books, Canadian National Railway, Canadian National Railway, The Milwaukee Road, Illinois Central Railway and Southern Railway, produced as part of MBI Publishing's Railroad Color History series. He was the "Investing in the Rails" columnist for Trains.com, and he wrote the monthly "Market Watch" column for RailNews magazine from January 1998 through mid-1999.
As a consultant, Mr. Murray prepared an analysis for The Kingsley Group of the evolving structure of the North American rail industry, and specifically the potential impact of future rail mergers on the ability of major ports to attract cargoes destined for U.S. markets.
For a cement producer in Mexico, he developed a new transportation contract for use with the company’s principal line-haul rail carrier. The contract included provisions to ensure satisfactory rail service levels, built on a foundation of regular two-way communication between carrier and shipper.
For Alber Leland Publishing, he surveyed short line railroads to assess the market for integrated freight accounting software, and prepared economic projections of this proposed new line of business.
In connection with litigation between Union Pacific Railroad and a large plastics producer, Mr. Murray researched and analyzed pricing documents, and assessed their relevance to the legal case. He provided testimony on behalf of Union Pacific regarding contract and tariff publication processes.
Since 2004, Mr.
Murray has provided rail industry analysis for investment firms
including mutual funds, private equity groups, hedge funds and other investors. Clients have included AEA Investors; Afton Capital; Ascend Capital;
Balance Asset Management; Barclays Leveraged Finance; BB&T Asset
Management; Brahman Capital; Brookside Capital Investors; Capital Group
Research; Citadel Investment Group; Copper Arch Capital LLC; Endowment
Capital Group; EnTrust Capital; Fortress Investment Group; Friess
Associates; Glenview Capital Management ; Goldman Sachs Principal
Strategies; Greywolf Capital Management; GSO Capital Partners; Hintz,
Hollman, Robillard, Inc.; Ivory Investment Management; Janus Capital
Group; Lazard Asset Management; M&G Investment Management; Mayo
Capital Partners; Millennium Partners; MTB Investment Advisors;
NorthPointe Capital, LLC; OSS Capital Management; Pendragon Capital
Management; Pennant Capital; Polygon Investments; Ramius Capital Group,
LLC; Renaissance Technologies Corporation; Savannah-Baltimore Capital
Management; Schneider Capital Management; Seneca Capital; South Dakota
Investment Council; Southpoint Capital Advisors; Standard Life UK;
Thrivent Investment Management; UBS Global Asset Management; Venor
Capital Management; Wells Capital Management; and Ziff Brothers
Investments.
While serving with Southern Pacific as Director of Marketing Services, Mr. Murray directed the administration of transportation contracts, managed the publication of tariffs and other pricing documents, and coordinated price publication with marketing and sales staff to meet customer needs. He served on a rail industry team that developed uniform standards for electronic communication of prices and contract provisions. Mr. Murray led a team that restructured Southern Pacific’s contract process to work in connection with a computer-based pricing system. He also redesigned contract procedures and formats to make them easier for customers, internal departments and connecting lines to use.
• CSX Transportation, 1986 - 1990
At CSX, Mr. Murray served as Manager Market Development and Assistant Director Pricing Services from 1986 to 1990. For CSX, he designed and implemented a preferred routing system to improve the uniformity of interline routing in pricing documents and waybills. He also led a team that developed a pricing data base for switching and accessorial services, as the cornerstone of a new billing system that generated increased revenues and reduced disputes with customers.
• R.L. Banks & Associates, Inc., 1979 - 1986
As Senior Associate with this Washington, D.C., transportation consulting firm, Mr. Murray participated in diverse transportation consulting assignments, including railroad merger impact studies, coal transport feasibility analyses and rail passenger service implementation programs. He performed field surveys to support operating cost evaluations, and assessed the economics of short line and terminal rail carriers.
For the Intermountain Power Agency, he assisted in the design of unit train operations for coal movements from central Utah origins to a new generating station, subsequently embodied in coal transportation contracts with the involved carriers.
For Dominion Terminal Associates, a consortium of four coal producers constructing a new ground-storage port facility, Mr. Murray examined the capacity of the Chessie System (now CSX Transportation) to move projected coal tonnages to the port site.
For the Coal Transportation Association, representing eastern U.S. coal producers, he assessed the efficiency of line-haul and terminal operations on major eastern coal-hauling railroads.
For the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, Mr. Murray managed feasibility studies of proposed commuter rail service in northern Virginia, involving analysis of capital and operating costs, funding mechanisms, institutional issues, freight interface and station siting.
For the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he conducted analyses of the potential effect of intramodal competition on rail service to the New York/New Jersey area.
For the Federal Railroad Administration, he examined the operational costs and benefits of planned improvements to Delaware Otsego Corporations Binghamton, NY, yard, in connection with the company’s application for federal financial support for this project.
For the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, one-half owner of the Pittsburgh, Chartiers and Youghiogheny Railway, Mr. Murray performed an analysis of the latter’s operations, traffic patterns, revenues and expenses. He also assessed the benefits and disbenefits to P&LE of its stake in PC&Y.
On behalf of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he conducted a valuation study of the Port Jersey Railroad Company, a switching carrier located at Jersey City, New Jersey. He analyzed the railroad both as a going concern (using historic revenue and expense data and shipper projections of future traffic) and in terms of its net salvage value (based on an inventory of its physical assets).
• U.S. Railway Association, 1978 - 1979
Mr. Murray served as Transportation Analyst and Manager, Operations Planning with USRA. He developed operating elements of various scenarios for Conrail’s future, at a time when the railroad was reporting financial losses of approximately one million dollars per day. He also monitored the implementation of operating improvement programs at major Conrail terminals.
• Soo Line Railroad Company, 1973 - 1978
While with Soo Line, Mr. Murray served successively as Assistant Trainmaster, Assistant Regional Manager Intermodal Services, Manager Terminal Services, Terminal Trainmaster and Terminal Superintendent.
As Terminal Superintendent in Soo Line’s Chicago terminal, he managed train and yard operations, developed annual expense budgets, and coordinated operations with headquarters and division personnel as well as connecting railroads.
Earlier, as Terminal Trainmaster, he supervised yard and train operations in the Chicago terminal. As Assistant Trainmaster, St. Paul, MN, and Thief River Falls, MN, he supervised yard and train crews and ensured timely movement of freight to and from customer facilities, connecting lines and road trains.
• Boston & Maine Corporation, 1970 - 1973
Mr. Murray began his railroad career with the Boston & Maine as a yard clerk and car service clerk at Worcester, Massachusetts.
EDUCATION
• New York University, B.A., 1971, History • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Logistics for Carriers and Shippers Program, 1986 • University of Maryland and Center for Creative Leadership, Leadership Development Program, 1990 • University of California Berkeley Extension, courses in Accounting, Economics, Corporate Finance, Business Valuation and Securities Analysis, 1999-2000
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
• American Society of Transportation & Logistics, Inc., Certified Member, 1982 to 2003 • American Association of Railroad Superintendents, Member, 1977 to date • Chicago Railroad Superintendents Association, President, 1977
Tom Murray Transportation Consulting Services 607 Taunton Drive Santa Maria, CA 93455-1208