Officials broke ground on Oct. 1 for a nearly $500 million rail improvement project in Chicago near 75th Street in the city. Locomotives from the railroads affected include: CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Belt Railway of Chicago, Metra, and Union Pacific. Dean Mastoras CHICAGO — Railroad, U.S., and Illinois state officials today announced nearly $500 million […]
FORT WORTH, Texas – Capacity projects around three crew-change points on BNSF Railway’s busy Southern Transcon will help the railroad gain operational flexibility on its key route linking Los Angeles and Chicago. This month BNSF placed in service 5 miles of fourth main track on the Hereford Subdivision through Amarillo, Texas. Next month BNSF expects […]
WASHINGTON – The Railway Supply Institute, partnering with the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association, Railway Systems Suppliers Inc., and Railway Tie Association, has released the results of a major study quantifying the economic and workforce impact of the products and services produced by the railway supply industry. This report, Tracking the Power of Rail Supply: The […]
Crews work to clean up the derailment Wednesday afternoon. Chris Hughes BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana Rail Link’s former Northern Pacific main line across Montana is closed today following a derailment near Columbus, about 40 miles west of Billings. A westbound coal train derailed on single track at approximately 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. MRL spokesman Jim Lewis […]
NEW YORK — Track construction and maintenance firm RailWorks Corp. is acquiring NARSTCO, which manufactures steel ties and turnout sets. NARSTCO, baed in Midlothian, Texas, makes ties from recycled steel, which eliminates the need for creosote, spikes, gauging, anchors, and tie plates. The firm, founded in 1996, has approximately 90 employees. It will continue to […]
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court ruled for Norfolk Southern on Monday in its challenge of the state’s blocked-crossing law, finding that Allen County could not fine the railroad for blocking public roads. The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette reports that the court, in a 5-0 ruling, said the 1972 state law, which barred railroads […]
The Michigan Central Station in 1940. TRAINS collection DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. paid $90 million for the derelict Michigan Central Depot, which it will turn into a campus for development of new technologies, according to a report in the Automotive News. The figure comes from government records. It means the company paid $150 per […]
WICHITA, Kan. — BNSF Railway is challenging a Kansas law limiting how long trains can block intersections, saying only the federal government, not the states, has the authority to regulation the issue. A three-judge panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case last week in a special session at Wichita […]
Covered hoppers roll down the eastbound hump at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., in June 2018 as yard power idles in the foreground. Unlike other railroads that have adopted “Precision Scheduled Railroading,” UP does not plan to idle any hump yards. Bill Stephens OMAHA, Neb. – People who worked closely with E. […]
ALTON, Iowa – Nearly 40 cars derailed and spilled into a river in northwestern Iowa Sunday morning after a bridge collapsed underneath a Union Pacific freight train near Alton. Union Pacific spokesman Justin E. Jacobs tells Trains News Wire there were 95 cars on the train and about 37 cars derailed. “An undetermined number of […]
STRASBURG, Pa. — The Strasburg Rail Road has acquired another diesel locomotive to bolster its burgeoning freight business. This one is an ex-ATSF SSB-1200, rebuilt from a 1953 EMD SW9. The unit was last in use at the Celanese plant at Narrows, Va. Currently identified as SRC No. 1235, the locomotive arrived in Lancaster on […]
“Southern Pacific Local Freight crosses Intracoastal Waterway in Houma, Louisiana, 1951,” from the “Unseen Link” exhibit. Courtesy O. Winston Link Museum ROANOKE, Va. — The O. Winston Link Museum is now featuring an exhibit of rarely seen images by the famed rail photographer. “Unseen Link,” which opened on Sept. 14 and runs through Nov. 6, […]
