WASHINGTON – The membership of the SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART MD) has voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the U.S. Class I railroads, the union announced on Wednesday. The contract passed with 54% of the rank and file voting in favor of the deal. The ratified contract includes historic wage increases, […]
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway has been ordered to pay $228 million in a federal class-action lawsuit after a jury found that the railroad violated Illinois state law by collecting employee fingerprints without prior consent. The decision is the first in a case involving the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, the first law passed by a […]
WASHINGTON — Carload and intermodal traffic remain below 2021 levels in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Oct. 8, overall traffic of 494,413 carloads and intermodal units represented a 2.4% drop from the same week a year earlier. That figure included 232,930 carloads, down 2.8%, and 261,483 […]
DENVER — OmniTRAX has completed an agreement to purchase the assets of the bankrupt San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, which will become the company’s 26th short line. Bankruptcy trustee William Brandt had said last month that the company had signed an agreement in principle to purchase the 155-mile Colorado railroad, a former Denver & […]
CALGARY, Alberta – Canadian Pacific’s Holiday Train will return this year after a two year pandemic-related hiatus. The train will again raise money, food, and awareness for local food banks in communities along the CP network – including, for the first time, stops in Maine and Quebec along the former Central Maine & Quebec. “I’m […]
NOVI, Mich. – Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees union have rejected the tentative national agreement that was reached last month with the U.S. Class I railroads. Some 56% of the rank and file voted against the contract, the union announced on Monday. Union leaders and the National Carriers Conference Committee that […]
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Aerial photos from Trains News Wire contributor Sol Tucker provide some indication of the extent of the damage sustained by southwest Florida’s Seminole Gulf Railway as a result of Hurricane Ian. The photos were taken Friday (Oct. 7). Railroad officials said earlier this week that at least a half-dozen bridges on […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board hearings on the proposed Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merger concluded Friday, Oct. 7, after seven days of testimony from shippers, communities, public officials, and other railroads. CP and KCS said the merger is a perfect fit, will increase competition, create new single-line routes, and provide their customers […]
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Canada’s National Supply Chain Task Force has called for moves to address port congestion and expansion of interswitching — often referred to as reciprocal switching in the United States — among a series of immediate recommendations to address congestion in the nation’s supply chain. In a final report issued Thursday, the task […]
LATORNELL, Alberta — A bridge fire in northwestern Alberta has put a Canadian National rail line out of service for at least a week, halting shipments for farmers involved in what is expected to be an exceptional grain harvest. Real Agriculture reports the fire occurred early on Wednesday, Oct. 5, on CN’s Grand Cache Subdivision […]
CHICAGO — The Midwest Association of Rail Shippers is establishing a new scholarship, the Craig Longardner Scholarship, to honor its former president and long-time member. The Craig Longardner Scholarship, which will join other scholarships already awarded by the organization will be awarded to a single applicant pursuing a degree in logistics, transportation, or supply-chain management […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern made closing arguments for their proposed merger on Thursday, telling regulators that their combination was in the public interest and that critics either didn’t do their homework or were seeking conditions that would stifle competition. They also said that the CP-KCS merger would not lead to operational […]
