WASHINGTON — When veteran Union Pacific locomotive engineer Michael Lindsey II looks at the industry he loves, he doesn’t like what he sees. So he has become outspoken on issues ranging from crew shortages and ongoing service problems to labor contracts and railroad regulation. He’s written two letters to the Surface Transportation Board this year. […]
WASHINGTON — Four federal legislators — three from Missouri and one from Kansas — have told regulators that they back the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger. Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and Reps. Sam Graves and Emanuel Cleaver, along with Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran — all Republicans — told the Surface Transportation Board in an […]
EAST GALESBURG, Ill. — BNSF Railway has told customers it expects to reopen one of two tracks this morning (Thursday, Aug. 4) on its Southern Transcon main line at the site of a Tuesday derailment in East Galesburg. In an advisory to customers Wednesday evening, the railroad estimated Track 1 would reopen at 8 a.m. […]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The governments of Canada and the province of Manitoba will invest C$147.8 million to upgrade the Hudson Bay Railway, the only year-round ground transportation link to the isolated community of Churchill, Man., which is also Canada’s lone arctic port. The Canadian Press reports the new funds are in addition to the C$157 […]
KINSTON, N.C. — The latest short line of Jaguar Transport Holdings, North Carolina’s Kinston Railroad, began operation on Aug. 1. The railroad will operate on 6 miles of track owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, between an interchange with Norfolk Southern in Kinston and North Carolina Global TransPark, a 2,500-acre industrial and business […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic remained below 2021 levels, although by a decreasing margin, during July, with overall traffic showing a 1.5% decrease. Statistics from the Association of American railroads show U.S. railroads originated 906,903 carloads for the month, up 0.2% from July 2021, while intermodal traffic of 1,033,906 carloads represented a 3% decline. In […]
EAST GALESBURG, Ill. — Some 30 to 40 cars of an eastbound BNSF Railway train derailed Tuesday night, according to East Galesburg’s mayor, blocking both tracks on the Chillicothe Subdivision of the railroad’s Southern Transcon mainline. The Galesburg Register-Mail reports the accident occurred about 9 p.m. Tuesday. Mayor Darrell Corbin said he was told no […]
WASHINGTON — An Ohio congressman has introduced a bill which would allow trainees for railroad jobs to complete some aspects of their training online. U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Zanesville, Ohio) introduced the Rail Employee Training Modernization Act last week, saying that existing regulations require employees to take part in classroom instruction, which delays training because […]
DAVENPORT, Iowa — The city of Davenport has reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific that will bring the Mississippi River community as much as $10 million to mitigate impacts of the proposed CP merger with Kansas City Southern. The Quad Cities Times reports Davenport’s aldermen will vote next week on the deal, which is contingent […]
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Watco’s newest short line, the Texas Coastal Bend Railroad, is scheduled to begin operation today (Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022), taking over 12 miles of trackage owned by the Port of Corpus Christi along with 8.5 miles of Union Pacific trackage rights. The railroad unveiled two locomotives with the port’s logo at […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board would get more teeth under a shipper-friendly bill that would reauthorize the agency that regulates freight railroads. The Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, introduced Tuesday, would give regulators more authority to deal with service emergencies, require railroads to include service standards in contracts with customers, and give shippers […]
Pullman-Standard 5,820-cubic-foot capacity covered hopper A Pullman-Standard 5,820-cubic-foot capacity covered hopper was unveiled at the ScaleTrains booth during the St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet in Collinsville, Ill., on July 29. The HO scale freight car, scheduled for release in February 2023, will be offered in the company’s Rivet Counter and Operator lines. Road names […]
