NEW YORK — The RailTrends conference in New York has been called the greatest single collection of rail investors in one place, and has featured in recent years a level of introspection by an industry that hasn’t grown much despite regular promises to do so. But the event this year wrapped up Friday with presentations […]
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SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Registration is now open for the 2025 Winter Meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, which is scheduled to include BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer and Surface Transportation Board Chairman Robert E. Primus as featured speakers. The event moves this year from its longtime home in Lombard, Ill., to a new […]
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NEW YORK — BNSF Railway remains committed to volume growth even as it seeks to improve its profit margins. “Growth is foundational for us,” BNSF Chief Marketing Officer Tom Williams told the RailTrends conference last week, noting that BNSF has accounted for 72% of the industry’s volume growth since it was formed in 1996. In […]
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NEW YORK — The U.S. Class I railroads have turned the corner on service and resiliency and are poised for volume growth for the first time in years. That’s the view of a trio of analysts – Anthony B. Hatch, Rick Paterson, and Larry Gross – who spoke at the RailTrends conference last week. Paterson, […]
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MONTREAL — Canada’s labor minister, Steven MacKinnon, has appointed three conciliation officers to assist in negotiations between Canadian National and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, CN said on Friday. The IBEW, which represents about CN 750 signal and communication workers across Canada, filed a notice of dispute on Oct. 29, indicating that the union […]
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SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Caltrain’s diesel-powered commuter rail trainsets will find a new life in Peru. The commuter rail operator announced that it has completed an agreement to send 19 locomotives and 90 gallery commuter cars to Lima, Peru, for some $6 million, a deal which also involved the U.S. State Department, Department of Commerce, […]
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WASHINGTON — Although the California High-Speed Rail Authority faces stiff financial headwinds with Republicans capturing the presidency and both houses of Congress, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) told High Speed Rail Alliance webinar participants this week, “I’m not afraid to defend California High Speed Rail.” Moulton, along with U.S. Rep Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), introduced the […]
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DeKALB, Ill. — The DeKalb City Council has authorized a state grant to pay for a new study on extending Metra service to the city, Shaw News reports. The $400,000 technical assistance grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation will build on an earlier feasibility study completed in 2023 that addressed financial benefits and potential […]
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WASHINGTON — Three projects with a rail component were among 31 port improvement projects receiving a total of $580 million from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration in grant awards announced today (Friday, Nov. 15). Funding comes from the Port Infrastructure Development Program, which received $2.25 billion under the Bipartisan Infrastruture Law. “Modernizing America’s port […]
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RALEIGH, N.C. — Eleven short line railroads and two ports in North Carolina will receive almost $13 million in grant funding from the state’s Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement program, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division has announced. The funding, which requires a 50% match from recipients, will go to a total […]
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WASHINGTON — Short line railroads across the United States will be able to lay more welded rail, replace more crossties, add sidings and build bridges as a result of $2.4 billion in funding through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety (CRISI) grant program for fiscal years 2023-2024 [see “FRA awards $2.4 billion […]
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MONTREAL — Opening of the largest portion of Montreal’s light rail network has been pushed back to fall 2025, the head of the company building the system has said. A 16.6-kilometer (10.3-mile) segment of the Réseau express métropolitain, serving five stations,opened in July 2023. At that time, most of the rest of the 67-km (41.6-mile), […]
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