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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Florio, key legislator in passage of Staggers Act, dies

Man in coat and tie in front of New Jersey flag

Jim Florio, a former New Jersey congressman and governor credited with a key role in passage of 1980’s Staggers Act, which partially deregulated railroads, has died. He was 85. Florio’s death on Sunday, Sept. 25, was announced on Twitter by law partner Doug Steinhardt. No cause or place of death was given. While the bill […]

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Wabtec planning for transition from diesel

Flat gray box-like object

BERLIN — Wabtec has presented a range of new technology at the InnoTrans trade fair intended to enable rail operators to reduce fuel bills while offering shippers more efficient and predictable service. In a series of exclusive interviews with Trains News Wire, Wabtec executives outlined the likely transition from diesel to alternative fuel types for […]

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New Strasburg GM packs experience, skills

Man standing in front of steam locomotive

STRASBURG, Pa. – Jim Hager brings a host of skills and experience to his new job as general manager of the 190-year-old Strasburg Rail Road, America’s oldest short line and now one of the country’s busiest and longest-running steam tourist railroads. A New Jersey native, he started hanging around the Black River & Western, another […]

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