Amazon has begun soliciting business from shippers interested in using space in the company’s fleet of 53-foot intermodal containers. The move, touted in a YouTube video posted this month, puts Amazon in direct competition with intermodal providers such as J.B. Hunt, Hub Group, and the intermodal marketing companies that fill rail-owned containers. “With intermodal for […]
TAMPA, Fla. — A long-discussed proposal to launch commuter rail service in the Tampa Bay area is unlikely to advance after CSX Transportation told local officials it is not interested in selling two rail lines in the area. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the railroad — which indicated seven years ago that it would […]
The Boston–Albany section of New York Central’s Pacemaker train for express freight service pauses at Worcester, Mass., to pick up cars in August 1949. The distinctive vermillion-and-gray boxcars were for on-line use only. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s second quarter profits and revenue rose despite service problems that prompted the railroad to meter traffic, a move that helped keep the network fluid but came at the expense of lost volume. “We understood that the actions we took to improve fluidity would impact our financial performance,” CEO Lance Fritz […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is increasing conductor trainee pay to $25 per hour, with a minimum of $200 in earnings per shift, the railroad has announced. Trainees will also be eligible for an on-the-job training incentive of $300 per biweekly pay period, provided they make themselves available to work. “We are committed to ensuring our […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s second-quarter earnings improved despite ongoing crew shortages that have snarled operations and forced the railroad to turn away traffic. At the current pace of hiring and training new conductors, CSX expects to hit the magic number of 7,000 active train and engine crews by the end of September, which will […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — With car velocity dropping and inventory climbing earlier this year, Union Pacific engaged in some “difficult conversations” with customers, Eric Gehringer says. The railroad’s executive vice president of operations is well aware for whom they were more difficult. “We had to go to our customers — some customers, not all customers […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic remains sluggish, with carloads and intermodal traffic below 2021 levels by weekly and year-to-date measures. For the week ending July 16, statistics from the Association of American Railroads show overall traffic at 498,899 carloads and intermodal units, a 2.8 decrease from the corresponding week in 2021. The total includes 229,809 […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday denied a California poultry and feed producer’s request for an extension of an emergency service order covering Union Pacific grain trains. Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, last week sought a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. Thousands […]
BRANDON, Manitoba – Alberta’s provincial pension fund will acquire Cando Rail & Terminals from a Canadian private equity firm. Cando, which operates more than 40 industrial switching facilities, nine owned terminals, and one short line, experienced rapid growth while under the control of TorQuest Partners. The deal, announced today (July 20), is the latest in […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s exclusive operating concession for its routes in Mexico have been extended by 10 years as part of an agreement with the Mexican government to invest in a new rail bypass route. The agreement with the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) extends the concession […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Some of the more detailed metrics the Surface Transportation Board has begun collecting as it tracks the rail industry’s service issues could become part of the STB’s regular regulatory oversight, board member Patrick Fuchs said Tuesday. “I do think that some of the service numbers that we have collected are extraordinarily […]
