CHICAGO — CSX Transportation has begun work on expansion of its Chicago intermodal facilities, breaking ground earlier this week on a container storage facility at 63rd Street in the city’s Englewood neighborhood. When completed, the project, projected to cost more than $25 million, will provide additional storage for the railroad’s 59th Street and Bedford Park […]
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WASHINGTON — A major grain shipper opposes Canadian National’s effort to force Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to divest the KCS line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City. Earlier this year CN asked the Surface Transportation Board to condition approval of the CP-KCS merger on divestiture of KCS’s Springfield Line. CN promises to spend […]
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The U.S. Class I railroads’ recurring crew shortages, related bouts of service problems, and a lack of meaningful volume growth are intertwined. You can lay the blame for all three problems at just one place: Wall Street. BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are in the midst of the mother of all […]
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MONTREAL — Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have gone on strike against Canadian National Railway in Canada. The 750 signal and communications workers walked out as of 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, a union official confirmed to the CBC. The union had previously given the railroad a 72-hour notification of its […]
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GATINEAU, Quebec — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its final annual statistics on transportation accidents for 2021, with rail figures showing an increase from 2020 while remaining below the 10-year average for reported accidents. Air, marine, and pipeline accidents were also below 10-year averages, according to a TSB press release. In all, […]
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WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board on Friday ordered Union Pacific to live up to service commitments it has made to deliver corn to a large California poultry and feed producer. The emergency service order, issued in response to a plea this week from Foster Farms, directs UP to give preference and priority to unit […]
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WASHINGTON — The largest chicken producer in the western U.S. has asked federal regulators to issue an emergency service order that would direct Union Pacific to prioritize corn shipments that thousands of dairy cattle and millions of chickens and turkeys depend upon. ”The point has been reached when millions of chickens will be killed and […]
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MONTREAL — Canadian National has received a 72-hour strike notice from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. CN said the union, which represents about 750 signals and communications employees in Canada, notified the railroad of its intent to strike as of 11 a.m. Eastern Time this Saturday, June 18. “CN has negotiated with the union […]
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PITTSBURGH — Wabtec Corp. has acquired the rail solutions segment of ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Inc.), which provides dispatching and back-office systems, from Collins Aerospace, Wabtec announced today (Thursday, June 16). ARINC provides systems with integrated train control and positive train control; control-center integration, and customer information systems for intercity, commuter, and transit rail operations, as […]
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WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked federal regulators to dismiss a shipper’s complaint that claims the railroad violated its common-carrier obligations by providing unreliable service and unilaterally reducing local service from five days per week to three. The shipper, Sanimax, brought the case to the Surface Transportation Board in November 2020. It asked the board […]
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WASHINGTON — The National Mediation Board will end mediation between railroads and their unions over the long-running negotiations for a new national contract, moving the contract process closer to intervention by President Joe Biden. The organization representing railroads in the negotiations, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, said in a press release that it was “disappointed […]
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WASHINGTON – Operational changes related to Precision Scheduled Railroading — including a reliance on longer trains — took center stage at a congressional hearing focused on rail safety. Rail labor leaders and some safety officials were critical of PSR during a House Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. But little light, backed up with […]
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