WASHINGTON —The latest salvo in Amtrak’s attempt to launch two daily round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., has landed at the Surface Transportation Board in the passenger railroad’s 80-page “Response in Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss.” Responding to a 284-page filing by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern on April 5, the passenger […]
Selected comments of politicians, organizations, and communities on the fight over Gulf Coast passenger service, as expressed in letters to the Surface Transportation Board [see “Analysis: Amtrak defends its Gulf Coast access request in new STB filing,” Trains News Wire, April 29, 2021]: Calling for completion of traffic modeling Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R): “For […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has issued its two most consequential documents of the year, which show where management intends to take the company and what it would like from Congress to achieve those goals. The 77-page General and Legislative Annual Report and Fiscal Year 2022 Grant Request, available here, asks Congress to almost double its pre-2020 […]
Biden nominates former FRA official Hedlund for STB President Joe Biden has nominated Karen Hedlund to serve on the Surface Transportation Board, filling the one current vacancy on the five-person board. A White House press release says Hedland has served as chief council for the Federal Highway Adminstration, and chief counsel and deputy administrator for […]
U.S. House member seeks funds for next step in Metra yard relocation project U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) is seeking $4 million to support relocation of a Metra yard on the UP Northwest line from Crystal Lake, Ill., to rural Woodstock, which could accommodate a full-service facility not possible at the current facility, limited by […]
WASHINGTON — While U.S. rail freight traffic continues to far outdistance 2020 volume, which was depressed at this time a year ago because of shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it also continues to show week-to-week improvement in 2021. The latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads show U.S. railroads moved 240,075 carloads in […]
Grain train on the prairie A Canadian Pacific GP9 switches the grain elevator at Headingley, Manitoba, in August 1980. In this time of transition, the cars to be loaded are a mix of cylindrical covered hoppers and boxcars. John Uckley […]
NORFOLK, Va. — Reflecting continued intermodal strength — as well cost savings resulting from the continued implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading principles — Norfolk Southern showed increases in both volume and earnings during 2021’s first quarter, as well as a new record operating-ratio figure. Quarterly revenue of $2.6 billion represented a 1% increase over the […]
CHICAGO – Canadian National has asked a federal court to set aside a U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision that has stymied CN’s acquisition of CSX Transportation’s Massena Line linking Montreal with Syracuse, N.Y. CN subsidiary Bessemer & Lake Erie filed the suit last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The STB […]
CP says its voting-trust proposal for KCS should be subject to different standards than CN proposal In its latest argument against Canadian National’s competing bid for Kansas City Southern, Canadian Pacific says CN is wrong to argue that the CN and CP proposals for placing KCS in a voting trust should be judged by the […]
An Amtrak special equipment move through Wilmington, Del., at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday morning with “Salute to Veterans” ACS-46 No. 642 on the point and two P42 diesels in tow carrying two of Amtrak’s six 50th-anniversary paint schemes — “Midnight Blue” locomotive No. 100, and No. 46, which carries the current paint scheme with large […]
Maryland DOT turns down request for single-tracking at Purple Line station, citing ‘significant risk’ to project The Maryland Department of Transportation has turned down a request to reduce the Purple Line light rail project to a single track at its Bethesda station. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich had made the request, seeking to create room […]
