What has been railroading’s top story in 2021? Today, we begin the process of answering that question, as determined in balloting by the Trains editorial staff, Classic Trains editor Brian Schmidt (who spent most of the year on our staff), and key News Wire contributors. Balloting concluded on Dec. 10. We’ll be recapping stories each […]
WASHINGTON — Carload traffic remains up while intermodal moves continue to lag behind 2020 levels in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Dec. 18, 2021, U.S. railroads moved 234,704 carloads, an increase of 1.7% over the same week in 2020, while the 269,395 containers and trailers represented […]
BOVINA, Miss. — Seventeen cars of a Kansas City Southern train derailed Tuesday evening in Bovina, disrupting traffic and leading to concerns about hazardous materials in some of the cars. The derailment blocked Bovina Drive, which could be impassable for an extended period, and knocked out a power line and transformer. No injuries were reported. […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National rail operations in British Columbia have nearly returned to normal after disruptions from Nov. 14 to Dec. 3 caused by flooding and washouts, the railroad reported on Tuesday, even as repairs continue around the clock. A 150-mile stretch on the railroad’s line between Vancouver and Kamloops, B.C., experienced 58 outages from […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has introduced an incentive program to improve container movement in and out of international intermodal facilities in Chicago and Kansas City, Mo. The “Dual Mission Reward Program” offers truck carriers and steamship lines a $200 incentive every time a drayage driver both delivers and departs with a shipping container, completing what […]
ODON, Ind. — The Indiana Rail Road has completed an upgrade to its Odon Transload Facility, adding a 10-inch concrete floor, food-grade railcar dock, and two truck docks. The improvements support handling and storage of weather-sensitive products such as particleboard, oriented strand board, plywood, and Southern yellow pine lumber at the facility with 9,600 square […]
Locomotive 182 of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern leads a freight train across the Cedar River bridge south of Waterloo, Iowa, in the late 1940s or early ’50s. William D. Middleton photo […]
WASHINGTON — After a lengthy delay sparked by filings in opposition to the deal, the Surface Transportation Board has approved Watco’s purchase of about 650 miles of branch lines in Wisconsin and Michigan from Canadian National-owned Wisconsin Central. “After careful consideration of all comments received, the board finds that the issues raised do not demonstrate […]
Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Chicago Great Western Railway all through December 2021. Please enjoy this photo gallery selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The Chicago Great Western was an agriculturally oriented Granger road linking Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Paul. Those cities, […]
NAPTON, Mo. — About 40 cars of a Union Pacific manifest train derailed Sunday at the grade crossing with County Road E in Napton, the railroad reports. The accident occurred about 4 a.m.; the train crew was not injured. The cars involved carried a mix of commodities, with at least one carrying wheat. UP crews […]
Precision Scheduled Railroading has become a target for members of Congress, federal regulators, shippers, and rail labor. Hunter Harrison’s low-cost operating model — in place on all of the Class I railroads except BNSF Railway — has come under criticism as rail traffic has rebounded from pandemic lows. Intermodal terminals faced monumental congestion this summer. […]
DAVENPORT, Iowa — Officials in the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, have told the Surface Transportation Board that increased traffic from the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger will have “very real and detrimental impacts,” with Davenport’s mayor and aldermen asking that an STB member visit before the board acts to see how the […]
