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March 7, 2000 9:55 AM, EST

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The federal government received mixed reviews for its efforts to improve intermodal freight transportation from participants in a Transportation Research Board conference on the future of containerized transportation.

Private sector participants at the Feb. 23 to 25 meeting criticized the Department of Transportation for failing to restructure itself, while government officials cited industry opposition to all but minor changes in the way the agency does business.

“We’ve done better in the policy area than in the DOT structure area,” railroad executive Robert D. Krebs said during a Feb. 25 speech.

Krebs is familiar with the issues at hand as chairman of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Corp. and as the head of the 1994 National Commission on Intermodal Transportation, which was created by Congress to speed national conversion to an efficient intermodal system and identify the resources necessary to do it.

For the full story, see the Mar. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. .