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Trailer manufacturers have been pursuing weight reduction for years, trimming pounds from body materials and suspension components in response to customer demands for greater hauling capacity.

Orders for new trailers in January slowed after a blistering fourth quarter but still were 18% higher during the month than a year earlier, ACT Research reported.

New trailer orders rose 18% in January from a year ago to 29,853 units, ACT Research reported.

Unifor, a labor union that represents about 4,800 workers at Canadian National Railway, said it will begin strike votes next week after five months of talks failed to produce an agreement.

New trailer orders jumped in December to the second-highest level on record, rounding out the trailer industry’s best year for order placement, according to ACT Research.

Add tank car makers to the list of U.S. industries bracing for the effects from the plunge in crude prices.

The Surface Transportation Board, now reduced to two members, decided to wade further into rail service oversight and stay out of a California rail emissions case.

November trailer orders rose 43% to the fourth-highest level ever, following October’s record high, to 36,000 units, ACT Research Co. reported.

U.S. electricity costs are poised to reach the highest level since 1999 because railroads are too clogged to deliver enough coal to power plants.