ATLANTA — The activist investors targeting Norfolk Southern pose a threat to the railroad industry and the U.S. economy and may prompt new regulations, outgoing Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman told a shipper conference today. Oberman was highly critical of Ancora Holdings’ proxy battle against NS, along with its efforts to replace current […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, who has been a punching bag for the activist investors who are trying to oust him, defended the railroad’s growth strategy at a shipper conference today. “I am fighting. I am fighting for what’s right and I am fighting for the industry,” Shaw told the Southeast Association of […]
NEW YORK — Norfolk Southern and RapidSOS, which provides secure data information to first responders, have unveiled a rail safety system to increase availability of critical information at significant incidents. The collaborative effort announced today will be free to public safety agencies across the U.S. It will provide access to cargo and hazardous material information, […]
WASHINGTON — The independent agency that oversees DC Metrorail safety issues says in a new report that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is allowing personnel to operate trains that do not meet the agency’s safety requirements, and has ordered WMATA to address the issue. The report issued Wednesday by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has added Dallas and Phoenix to the lanes it is serving with on-dock international intermodal service from Houston. “In cooperation with Port Houston, ocean carriers and Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCO) have access to rail service between Barbours Cut Container Terminal at Port Houston and 11 key Union Pacific-served markets. The […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today accepted Canadian National’s application to acquire short line Iowa Northern Railway, said the $230 million deal qualifies as a minor transaction, and set a schedule for a review of the merger. The STB must approve minor transactions unless it finds a merger would harm competition. CN says acquisition […]
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad’s board of commissioners has awarded a $2.2 million contract for construction of a new transload facility. The contract was awarded on Tuesday to Cycle Construction Co. LLC for construction of the NOPB Transloading Industrial Park in New Orleans East. The $3 million project will be funded […]
WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 24 was again up compared to 2023, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Overall traffic was 483,656 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.7% from the same week a year ago. It was the fifth straight week volume has bettered figures from […]
WASHINGTON — The Norfolk Southern engineer killed in a Jan. 31 incident in Decatur, Ala., suffered fatal injuries when his locomotive was struck by a group of 35 railcars rolling on an adjacent track, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary accident report released today (Wednesday, Feb. 28). The incident occurred about 4:15 […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has cut jobs from mechanical shops in Kansas and Nebraska and has offered affected workers positions at facilities where it is hiring. The railroad did not say where jobs were cut or how many positions were eliminated. But local news reports said that more than 100 positions were cut […]
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway will pay $75 million to settle a biometric privacy lawsuit in which it was originally assessed a $228 million penalty, only to have that award thrown out on appeal, Reuters reports. The settlement was originally reported last September, but terms had not been disclosed until a Monday filing in federal court […]
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board and Surface Transportation Board both announced the addition of new staff members on Tuesday. At the NTSB, Warren Randolph has been appointed as the board’s first chief data officer, while Jen Adler will head the Office of Safety Recommendations of Communications. At the STB, Dr. Kristen Monaco has […]
