CHICAGO — Norfolk Southern efforts to expand a rail yard on Chicago’s South Side have run into resistance from local residents concerned the railroad has not followed through on promises of job opportunities, as well as on the effects of the surrounding neighborhood. Local news site Block Club Chicago reports the railroad is continuing work […]
You have to give Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw a standing ovation for his performance at the railroad’s investor day last month. Using logic as a sledgehammer, it took him just 10 minutes to demolish two of the things that have hurt rail service and put a lid on traffic growth: Excessive cost-cutting and an […]
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa Interstate Railroad will purchase 30 acres in Iowa City’s Industrial Campus for a new rail-to-truck transloading facility, the railroad and city have announced. In addition to being adjacent to the Iowa Interstate mainline, the facility, set to open this summer, is close to Interstate 80 and U.S. routes 6 and […]
Rail traffic is expected to have another tough year as intermodal, carload, and coal traffic will all struggle to show growth. That’s the view of Todd Tranausky, vice president of rail and intermodal at freight forecasting firm FTR Transportation Intelligence. North American rail traffic was down 1.9% overall last year, according to the Association of […]
NEW YORK — New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will build its first light rail line under plans announced this week for the Interborough Express project, which will connect Brooklyn and Queens on an existing Long Island Rail Road freight right-of-way that will connect 17 subway lines and LIRR passenger service. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has sworn in a new executive committee and elected eight new members to its advisory board, the union announced. Edward A. Hall became the union’s new national president Jan. 1. He is joined on the executive committee by first vice president Mark L. Wallace and […]
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A recent public briefing by Sierra Northern Railway and local non-profit Valley Vision on Sierra Northern’s hydrogen locomotive project is now available for review online. The program outlined the project’s ability to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve quality of life in lineside communities. The briefing is available […]
WASHINGTON — A double-digit drop in intermodal traffic dragged down U.S. rail volume for the first week of 2023, according to statistics for the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Jan. 7, overall traffic was 416,489 carloads and intermodal units, a 5.5% drop from the corresponding week in 2022. That included 212,962 carloads, […]
It’s fitting that Union Pacific’s logo is a shield. The beleaguered railroad needs one given the barrage of arrows coming its way. UP has a long list of problems, many of them self-inflicted as a predictable result of its pursuit of a 55% operating ratio. There are so many issues confronting UP that it’s hard […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern Railroad announced it set new records in 2022 for freight traffic and excursion passenger ridership. Revenue freight traffic rose over 4,000 carloads and the railroad carried over 250,000 passengers on its excursion trains. Reading & Northern, Pennsylvania’s largest privately-owned railroad, said the freight traffic increase was driven by […]
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Implementing positive train control was a long, costly process for the railroad industry. Now that it’s in place, the people who know it best — the communications and signal specialists — are finding there are a lot of benefits to the technology beyond its primary purpose of accident prevention. “As a […]
OTTAWA — The Canadian government will require railroads to provide more detailed information on traffic and performance under amendments to Canada’s Transportation Information Regulations, Transport Canada announced on Monday, Jan. 9. The information, to be reported weekly, will be published on the government’s Transportation Data and Information Hub. The new rules take effect April 4, […]
