April rail traffic declines slightly from year ago

AAR traffic data chart for week ending April 9

WASHINGTON — U.S. weekly rail traffic for April remains slightly below 2021 levels in the latest statistics released by the Association of American Railroads. U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 9, 2022, was 508,343 carloads and intermodal units, down 1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending […]

Read More…

CP doesn’t expect traffic data issue to change KCS merger timeline

Train with red locomotives and covered hopper cars

BALTIMORE – Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel doesn’t expect a traffic density data issue to delay the overall timeline for regulatory review of the CP-Kansas City Southern merger. The Surface Transportation Board on March 16 suspended its review of the CP-KCS deal pending resolution of a discrepancy in the baseline traffic figures the railroads used […]

Read More…

Illinois state lawmaker files bill opposing CP-KCS merger

A Metra train approaches the Itasca station on the Milwaukee West line on March 16,2022. The commuter operator says Canadian Pacific traffic increases from the merger with KCS could increase its delays by 400%. (Trains: David Lassen)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation opposing the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, saying the merger’s projected traffic increases “presents far too many risks” to lineside communities. State Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) represents one of the eight communities in the Coalition to Stop CPKC. Those communities, along the Metra Milwaukee West route […]

Read More…

Safety board issues findings and recommendations after probe of fatal CP runaway (Updated)

Locomotive surrounded by cars from derailment

CALGARY, Alberta — The degradation of air brakes in extreme cold, the limited effectiveness of current train brake tests, and inadequate training and experience of supervisory personnel contributed to the 2019 Canadian Pacific grain train runaway and derailment that killed three crew members in British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Pass. That’s the conclusion of the Transportation […]

Read More…

Manitoba announces plan for rail park at inland port

Aerial illustration of rail park near Winnipeg

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Province of Manitoba has announced an agreement with a major real estate developer for a 665-acre, rail-served industrial park as part of an existing inland port. Focus Equities Inc. will build the CentrePort Canada Rail Park as part of the 20,000-acre CentrePort Canada in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, northwest of […]

Read More…

Completion of Lac-Mégantic bypass to be delayed

Map of Lac-Megantic Bypass

LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — The Lac-Mégantic bypass will not be completed by its 2023 target date after the Canadian government extended the period for negotiations with landowners, Omar Alghabra, Canada’s transport minister, has announced. In a March 24 statement, Alghabra said the negotiation period has been extended until Aug. 12, 2022, at the request of the […]

Read More…

CSX asks regulators to toss NS request for trackage rights over CPKC

Map of eastern U.S. highlighting route between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators should toss out Norfolk Southern’s request for trackage rights over Kansas City Southern from Shreveport, La., to the Dallas area as part of the proposed Canadian Pacific-KCS merger, CSX Transportation says. NS sees Canadian Pacific Kansas City as a threat to its Meridian Speedway intermodal traffic. And so NS says it may […]

Read More…

CP asks federal regulators to resolve key CN Chicago interchange question

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific logos

WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific has asked federal regulators to determine whether the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard is a reasonable location to interchange traffic with Canadian National. It’s the latest twist in the Canadian railways’ long-running dispute over where to exchange traffic in Chicago. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in December vacated […]

Read More…

Canadian Pacific shutdown begins in Canada (updated)

Canadian Pacific Railway beaver logo

CALGARY, Alberta — With each side blaming the other, a dispute between Canadian Pacific and the union representing 3,000 train crew members and yard workers has led to a halt of the railroad’s operations in Canada. Canada’s Minister of Labor, Seamus O’Regan, confirmed the stoppage had begun in a Twitter post at 12:01 a.m. EDT […]

Read More…

Metra opposes CP-KCS merger in regulatory filing

Passenger train passing wooden passenger station

WASHINGTON — Chicago-area commuter rail operator Metra has come out against the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, telling the Surface Transportation board in a 946-page filing that the merger would bring delays, prevent expansion of service, raise safety issues, and increase Metra’s infrastructure costs. The communter operator also says its traffic modeling indicates the operating […]

Read More…