Canada’s government, railroads to assist Ukraine’s rail industry

Repair work underway on rail bridges

MONTREAL — The Canadian government and Canada’s railway industry will work to support reconstruction and operation of Ukraine’s rail and other transportation infrastructure, the government and the Railway Association of Canada announced Wednesday. The announcement includes formation of a working group involving the governments of both countries, the RAC — on behalf of railways including […]

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Weekly rail traffic figure take another dip

Weekly table showing U.S. carload traffic by commodity type plus intermodal totals

WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic showed another significant drop for the week ending Sept. 24, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Total volume for the week was 489,111 carloads and intermodal units, a 4.4% decrease from the same week in 2021. Since the figures for the week ending Sept. 3 showed […]

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CP and KCS tout and defend their merger on first day of regulatory hearings

Container train under overhead signals

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday’s first day of public hearings regarding their proposed merger, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern sought to blunt criticism of their $31 billion combination by preemptively addressing concerns raised by other Class I railroads, Chicago-area commuter railroad Metra, and lineside communities in the Midwest. Merger opponents — including Metra and communities […]

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Electrical workers ratify contract with railroads

Logo of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which includes lighting bolts held by a fist

ARLINGTON, Va. — A third union has ratified its tentative agreement with freight railroads, the bargaining group representing the railroads has announced. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee announced the ratification by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents almost 4,000 rail workers. The margin by which the contract was ratified was not announced. “The […]

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STB hearing on CP-KCS merger begins today

Surface Transportation Board logo

WASHINGTON — Three days of scheduled hearings on the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger — the first combination of two Class I railroads in two decades — will begin this morning (Wednesday, Sept. 28) in the hearing room at the Surface Transportation Board headquarters in Washington, D.C. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT […]

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New CSX CEO pledges to improve service and company culture

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation needs to improve its customer service and culture, CEO Joe Hinrichs told employees during a town hall meeting on Monday, his first day on the job. Hinrichs acknowledged the controversy surrounding Precision Scheduled Railroading but says CSX won’t be changing its operating model because it’s hard to argue with its […]

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Machinists’ union reaches second tentative agreement with railroads

Numerous yellow locomotives parked in service area. Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena asks FRA for rolling stock inspection data.

WASHINGTON – The machinists’ union has reached a second tentative agreement with Class I railroads, just under two weeks after the rank and file rejected the union’s first tentative deal. “We are pleased to announce that the nation’s freight railroads have reached a tentative agreement with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM),” […]

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Return of InnoTrans draws more than 137,000 (updated)

View from above of large, crowded display area for one company at trade show

BERLIN — While not quite matching the record numbers it set in 2018, the 2022 InnoTrans trade fair, which concluded Friday, made a strong return after a four-year pause. A total of 137,394 people attended the four-day event, according to the event’s closing report, with visitors from 131 countries attending the world’s largest rail industry event. […]

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Patriot Rail to acquire Louisiana’s Delta Southern Railroad

Logo of Delta Southern railroad

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Patriot Rail, which concluded its acquisition of Pioneer Lines earlier this month, will expand further through acquisition of Delta Southern Railroad, the companies announced Monday. Delta Southern operates more than 40 miles of track in two line segments about 60 miles apart in Monroe and Tallulah, La., serving two Mississippi River ports: […]

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