WASHINGTON — The parties involved in the agreement to allow the launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service have filed a joint update on that agreement requested by the Surface Transportation Board, asking that the board scrap a hearing planned for Feb. 14 “as the Parties have no further information to offer.” The STB last month […]
NEW YORK — New York City Transit’s first R211T open-gangway subway cars entered service on Thursday, operating on the C line between Washington Heights and East New York, following an inaugural ride featuring Gov. Kathy Hochul and Metropolitan Transportation Authority and elected officials. Hochul also announced that 1,000 of the city’s subway cars are now […]
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho rail advocates were disappointed when a route linking Boise and Salt Lake City wasn’t included in the Federal Railroad Adminstration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program announced in December. But it turns out that effort to revive part of the route of Amtrak’s discontinued Pioneer was never even considered for the eventual […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation today (Thursday, Feb. 1) announced it had reached agreement with four additional unions to provide paid sick leave to employees, extending that coverage to an additional 600 workers. Unions involved are SMART-TD conductors/trainmen (C&O); SMART-TD yardmasters; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and Carrolton Road-Transportation Communications Union-represented engineers, yardmen, and maintenance […]
WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman says he’s concerned about reports that an activist investor plans to launch a proxy fight to oust Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw. “Is this an investor whose goal it is to reinstate the bad old days when the marching orders to the C-suite were to cut, […]
WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the leaders of all 13 railroad labor unions today urged Congress to tighten rail safety regulations as the one-year anniversary of the disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, approaches. The Railway Safety Act, introduced in the Senate last spring in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern hazardous materials […]
CALGARY, Alberta – Canadian Pacific Kansas City has become the third Class I railroad to join the RailPulse freight car telematics joint venture. “We are pleased to be a part of RailPulse and to contribute to accelerating adoption of railcar telemetry in North America,” CPKC Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks said in a statement today. […]
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska legislation that would require two-person train crews advanced in the state’s legislature on Wednesday, with an amended version passing in the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee by a 35-8 vote. LB 31 was introduced last year by state Sen. Mike Jacobson (R-North Platte, Neb.) and establishes penalties of up to $10,000 for […]
WASHINGTON — After two weeks in negative territory, U.S. weekly rail traffic barely edged into positive ground for the week ending Jan. 27, 2024. Figures from the Association of American Railroads show overall traffic of 467,222 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.7% compared with the same week a year ago. That included 208,131 carloads, down […]
An activist investor group has taken a $1 billion stake in Norfolk Southern and aims to wrest control of the company’s board and oust CEO Alan Shaw, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal this evening. The investor group, led by Cleveland-based Ancora Holdings, has nominated a slate of directors that includes former […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian National’s proposed acquisition of the 218-mile Iowa Northern Railway will boost rail competition, divert freight off the highway, and give Iowa shippers broader access to single-line service, CN says in a merger application filed this week with the Surface Transportation Board. CN spent $230 million to acquire the Class III railroad from […]
WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board today issued a decision that extends the temporary reporting of employment data through the end of the year and that requires certain updated information from BNSF Railway, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific. The board originally required the big four U.S. Class I railroads to submit employment information beginning […]
