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WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board’s probe into the Oct. 15 derailment of a BNSF Railway coal train near Pueblo, Colo., will focus on the railroad’s track maintenance and inspection procedures, the agency said today in its preliminary report on the fatal wreck. Some of the 30 loaded coal gondolas that derailed near a […]
BERN, Switzerland — The Gotthard Base Tunnel will not fully reopen to passenger and freight traffic until September 2024, Swiss Federal Railways announced today (Thursday, Nov. 2), saying ongoing repairs from an Aug. 10 derailment in the tunnel have found much more severe damage than initially believed. The Aug. 10 incident caused damage for more […]
Canadian National has acquired a stake in Genesee & Wyoming short line Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway, which operates the easternmost trackage in North America. Under the deal announced on Wednesday, CN will manage interline shipments for customers on the 145-mile CBNS. G&W will continue to operate the railroad, which connects with CN […]
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives’ vote on appropriations for the Department of Transportation, which would include a 64% cut in Amtrak funding as well as a prohibition on federal funds for California’s high speed rail project, is still pending. It had originally been reported as on the schedule for Wednesday [see “House set to […]
WASHINGTON — In a new report, the National Transportation Safety Board calls on the Federal Railroad Administration to incorporate new technologies into existing positive train control systems and address issues with PTC in its current form. The 51-page report, available here, says safety issues remain in existing PTC systems in the form of: — Insufficient […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic reached its highest level in 28 months in October, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads, while weekly traffic figures ended their run of increases over 2022 levels. The month saw railroads originate just under 2 million carloads and intermodal units — 921,591 carloads, down 0.3% from October […]
OMAHA, Neb. — A round of layoffs are under way today at Union Pacific headquarters as new CEO Jim Vena aims to streamline management and speed up decision making at the sprawling railroad. “Union Pacific is changing its culture and announced organizational changes to reduce layers, expand spans of control and focus on empowering employees […]
OMAHA, Neb. — The head of the track workers’ union has warned federal regulators that Union Pacific aims to furlough up to 1,350 maintenance-of-way employees next month and will push the remainder of this year’s planned trackwork projects into 2024 as a cost-saving measure. But the railroad says the move is nothing unusual. “This is […]
ERIE, Pa. —Wabtec and Australian mining firm Roy Hill have unveiled world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service in ceremonies today (Oct. 31, 2023) at Wabtec’s Erie manufacturing facility. The FLXdrive locomotive contains 72 lithium-ion modular battery packs with a total of 36,288 cells, giving the locomotive an energy capacity of 7 megawatt-hours. […]
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on an appropriations bill that would cut Amtrak funding by more than 60% and block federal support for the California high speed rail program. H.R. 4820, which funds the Department of Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development, includes in the budget for […]
WASHINGTON — Legislation that aims to reverse Amtrak’s statutory right of preference over host railroad freight trains “within 50 miles of a port or rail yard” has been introduced by a U.S. Congressman representing a rural district without any passenger service. Among its co-sponsors is the head of the U.S. House subcommittee with jurisdiction over […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern will install more than a dozen digital train inspection portals across its network by the end of 2024 as part of its drive to improve safety. The first portal – developed by NS and the Georgia Tech Research Institution – was activated Sept. 25 on the Fort Wayne Line in Leetonia, […]
