Canadian National’s busy main line through the rugged Thompson and Fraser river canyons, which was damaged by a June 30 wildfire that leveled the town of Lytton, British Columbia, is scheduled to reopen this evening (Tuesday, July 13). “In coordination with local authorities and First Nations, CN staff have inspected the area and carried out […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. – Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman fully supports the White House’s call for more competition in the rail industry and questions whether Class I railroads are shirking their obligations as common carriers due to pressure from Wall Street. Oberman, addressing the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers today, said the Biden administration’s […]
WEED, Calif. — Union Pacific’s main line linking the Pacific Northwest and California — its Interstate 5 corridor — is likely to remain closed until at least Sept. 1 as a result of the wildfire that destroyed the massive Dry Canyon Bridge in Northern California along with 9 miles of right-of-way. The railroad informed customers […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak and shipper groups have welcomed the executive order from President Joe Biden which seeks to increase competition among railroads. Biden signed the order on Friday, drawing criticism from the Association of American Railroads and some individual Class 1 roads [see “Biden executive order prods STB …,” Trains News Wire, July 9, 2021]. […]
CALGARY, Alberta — A coupler failure led to a string of cars rolling uncontrolled in a Canadian Pacific yard in Calgary and hitting a group of stationary cars, causing a 22-car derailment, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined in its investigation of the January 2019 incident. According to the TSB’s summary of the incident, […]
ALTOONA, Pa. — Norfolk Southern furloughed 86 workers at its Juaniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona on Friday, while eliminating another 14 jobs through attrition, the Altoona Mirror reports. The moves leave the shop with approximately 400 workers. Workers learned of the layoffs Friday morning when they arrived for their shift and were prohibited from entering […]
Collection elevator This small collection elevator near Bayneville, Kans., typical of the thousands of wooden country elevators that were once common across the Midwest and West, is loading a boxcar, while two trucks wait with incoming wheat at the start of the grain rush in June 1952. The small elevator isn’t as wide as the […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian government has shut down Canadian National and Canadian Pacific operations through the area hit by a wildfire that devastated the town of Lytton, British Columbia. An order issued by Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra, effective as of 12:01 a.m. PDT today, required both railroads to halt train movements except for emergency […]
PALESTINE, Texas — A Texas judge has again ruled that Union Pacific must continue employment of workers at its Palestine, Texas, car shop, which the railroad had planned to close last month. The Palestine Herald-Press reports Judge Michael Davis of the 369th Judicial District Court in Rusk, Texas, must continue to observe a 1955 judgment […]
WASHINGTON — One victim was found to be intoxicated while moving outside of a yard walkway was a factor in the death of another, and according to National Transportation Safety Board reports on fatal accidents on CSX Transportation in 2019 and the Port Authority Transit Corp. in 2020. In the first incident, on April 13, […]
TORONTO — The Canada Infrastructure Bank and governments of Canada and Quebec will provide some C$55 million to modernize the remote Tshiuetin railway, Canada’s first Indigenous owned and operated rail operation. The infrastructure bank will provide $50 million in a long-term, fully repayable loan, while Quebec will provide $5 million, repayable in two years. Transport […]
Canada’s busiest railroad corridor remains hobbled nine days after a devastating wildfire in Lytton, British Columbia. Lytton, which was virtually destroyed by the June 30 fire, is in the heart of the directional running zone Canadian National and Canadian Pacific use in the rugged Thompson and Fraser river canyons. Westbound traffic flows over CN’s single-track […]
