SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Completion of work to relocate rail routes through Springfield, as well as building of a new transit center to be used by Amtrak, will be pushed back after the project did not receive any federal funding in 2023, the State Journal-Register reports. The U.S. Department of Transportation turned down a $138 million […]
Class I railroads operating in the U.S. reached a series of agreements with their labor unions this year that are designed to improve workers’ quality of life. Chief among them: Paid sick time deals. Railroaders’ lack of traditional paid sick time became a flashpoint toward the end of contract negotiations in the fall of 2022. […]
J.B. Hunt and BNSF Railway have set out to bake a bigger pie. In November they launched faster, more reliable premium domestic intermodal service that they say will eventually convert millions of truckloads to rail. The potential is there, they say, to double domestic intermodal volume, which in 2022 stood at just under 8 million […]
SALINA CRUZ, Mexico — For the second straight week, Mexico has inaugurated passenger service on a new rail line. On Friday, operations began for the Interoceanic Railroad, a 188-mile route connecting Coatzacoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico, with Salina Cruz, on the Pacific Coast. It is the key piece of the Interoceanic Corridor of the […]
WASHINGTON — The Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, railroad border crossings will reopen at 1 p.m. Central today, ending a shutdown that had stranded freight on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border since 8 a.m. on Monday. Railroads cheered the announcement that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials made today. “The Biden Administration made […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway will use a permit system to prevent congestion once the Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, rail border crossings are reopened. The bridges over the Rio Grande have been shut down since Monday as customs officials divert personnel to process a surge of migrants who have entered the country […]
As always, some notable events did not quite crack our list of the Top 10 stories of the year. And as it happens, the four stories that finished just outside the Top 10 are closely related: Chairman Martin J. Oberman’s forthcoming departure from the Surface Transportation Board; UP’s service issues and change of CEOs; the […]
NEW ORLEANS — The Port of New Orleans will receive $73.8 million under the federal Mega Grant program for its Louisiana International Terminal project, a planned $1.8 billion container port with the eventual goal of handling some 1.2 million containers annually. The project in Violet, La., announced in late 2022, is located to eliminate height […]
WASHINGTON — The Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, railroad gateways to Mexico remained closed for a fourth straight day today — and there was no indication when freight might begin moving again despite a phone call today between President Joseph Biden and his Mexican counterpart. Biden spoke with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s controversial service-based reciprocal switching proposal faced another round of criticism this week, with many shippers saying it doesn’t go far enough and railroads saying it’s an unworkable, unrealistic rule that goes too far. The proposal, unveiled in September, would allow shippers located in terminal areas to seek access to […]
Take a look at the Lionel No. 3459 automatic dumping ore car, cataloged from 1946 through 1948. The most common version of this model came with a black-painted frame and black metal tray with “Lionel Lines” heat-stamped on both sides in white. Lionel offered this variation for all three years it cataloged the 3459 and […]
ADAMANA, Ariz. — One track of BNSF’s Southern Transcon main line is expected to reopen today (Thursday, Dec. 21) through Adamana at approximately 7 a.m. local time following a Wednesday derailment, according to a customer service update by the railroad. No estimate has yet been determined to reopen the second track through the site. One […]
