JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation will comply with federal COVID-19 vaccine regulations by the Jan. 4 deadline, CEO Jim Foote said today. Although CSX requires new hires and management employees to be vaccinated, the railroad has not yet decided whether it will issue a mandate for unionized employees, spokeswoman Cindy Schild says. CSX has offered financial […]
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ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has opened its new headquarters building in Atlanta following a Wednesday ceremony featuring Gov. Brian Kemp, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, NS employees, and city civic and business leaders. The 750,000-square-foot building is on a 3.4-acre campus in Tech Square, featuring two glass towers connected with a campus-style hub; […]
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WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic remains stuck in a pattern it has displayed since August, with an increase in carload traffic more than offset by a drop in intermodal volume, leaving overall traffic below 2020 levels. For the week ending Nov. 6, the specifics — as reported in the latest statistics from the Association […]
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WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s request for cooperation from CSX has received a harsh response from the freight railroad. A CSX filing with the Surface Transportation Board says the passenger railroad is seeking “unrestrained access” to the route of proposed service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and wants “a blank check to perform whatever work it […]
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WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote has told federal regulators that while his railroad’s service is not where he’d like it to be, the company has not seen a spike in customer complaints and is hiring as fast as it can to alleviate ongoing crew shortages. Foote was responding to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin […]
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OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s international intermodal traffic between the congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and inland terminals is approaching normal levels despite the ongoing backlog of ships waiting to dock at North America’s busiest port complex. “We are essentially normal in our international supply chain on Union Pacific from ports to intermodal […]
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SEATTLE — Almost four years after the derailment that halted its use, Amtrak trains will return to the Point Defiance bypass south of Tacoma, Wash., on Thursday, Nov. 18. Initially, eight trains — the Amtrak Cascades service and the Coast Starlight — will use the 14.5-mile inland route, which parallels Interstate 5. It departs from […]
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OTTAWA, Ontario — O-Train Confederation Line light rail service is expected to begin running on a limited basis as of Friday, the CBC reports, with full service restored by the end of the month. Service will begin with seven trainsets, with an additional set train as a spare, with the number of active trains gradually […]
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MIAMI, Fla. — After an absence of about 20 months, Brightline service resumed between Miami and West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, with the passenger operator offering discount fares, gearing up its door-to-door service plan [see “‘Brightline+’ app to enable door-to-door trip ticketing,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 27, 2021]. Opening-day service was marred by a […]
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WINTER PARK, Colo. — Amtrak’s Winter Park Express ski train service will return in January, launching 12 weeks of Friday-Saturday-Sunday service between Denver and the Winter Park Resort. Service begins the weekend of Jan. 14-16 and will continue through the weekend of April 1-3, with one-way fares beginning at $29, and fares for kids ages […]
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MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada will add a second weekly round trip of its Montreal-Halifax train, the Ocean, beginning Dec. 8. “The return of this second frequency of the Ocean is good news for our passengers who now have more travel options in time for the holiday season,” Cynthia Garneau, VIA president and CEO, said […]
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WASHINGTON — The infrastructure bill passed by Congress will advance more than a dozen priorities of the National Transportation Safety Board, according to NTSB’s chair. “This is a very big win for transportation safety,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a Monday press release. “From protecting vulnerable road users to equipping vehicles with advanced drunk […]
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