ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has told customers it will halt bulk commodity movements by unit train on Thursday, Bloomberg is reporting, stepping up that railroad’s plans for a potential shutdown ahead of Friday’s end of the cooling-off period for labor negotiations. NS has previously announced it would stop accept accepting intermodal and automotive shipments on […]
WASHINGTON – Congress should let rail labor contract negotiations play out until a deal acceptable to the rank and file is reached, the SMART-TD union told congressional leaders today. If a contract based solely on the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board were presented to union members, it would fail by more than a 3-to-1 […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has issued $600 million in green bonds to support investments that will reduce the railroad’s carbon footprint, including battery electric locomotives. The bond deal was finalized on Sept. 9, UP said on Monday. Proceeds will be directed to the purchase of battery electric locomotives, locomotive modernizations, expansion of intermodal terminals, […]
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called railroad and union leaders on Monday in a direct effort to avoid a potential railroad work stoppage, according to multiple media reports. The Washington Post reports Biden’s calls followed emergency meetings last week at the White House led by the National Economic Council, and that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg […]
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators have introduced a resolution that would require unions and railroads to accept recommendations made in August by the Presidential Emergency Board to settle their labor dispute and avert a strike or lockout. The news site Roll Call reports Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced the legislation on […]
ITASCA, Ill. — Given the location of the event —in the heart of the cluster of Chicago suburbs who have organized to fight the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger — it is little surprise that Monday’s public meeting on the merger’s draft Environmental Impact Statement was a prolonged attack on that report, and on the […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway will stop accepting temperature-controlled intermodal traffic as of 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13, as it prepares for a possible work stoppage, the railroad said in a notice to customers on Monday night. The BNSF notice says the railroad has now reached agreements with nine unions — which would […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak will begin suspending service on some long-distance trains as of tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 13) in preparation for a possible railroad work stoppage later this week. Trains immediately affected will be the longest-duration trains — the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief; Chicago-Seattle/Portland Empire Builder; Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., California Zephyr; and the Los Angeles-San Antonio portion […]
SAN DIEGO — The regional planning agency for San Diego County has accepted a $300 million state grant, allowing it to move ahead on plans to build an inland tunnel to replace the current Surf Line rail route along the Del Mar Bluffs. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the project would also include double tracking […]
WASHINGTON — The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association has joined the growing list of groups calling for Congress to intervene in the Class I rail labor dispute. Meanwhile, the Fertilizer Institute, which already had asked Congress to intervene, renewed its call after railroads announced they would begin embargoing hazardous or security-sensitive material, which […]
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont Rail System, operator of five railroads in Vermont and New York, is rolling out freshly painted locomotives in its new image. But you will need to look closely to notice the minor change being introduced as the company paints power for the first time in a decade. The repaints will carry the […]
ITASCA, Ill. — A group of Chicago suburbs seeking more than $9 billion to mitigate impacts of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger says it will present new testimony showing potential adverse effects at a public meeting tonight on the Surface Transportation Board’s Draft Environmental Impact Study on the merger. The meeting, the first of […]
