ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern President Alan Shaw spent his first two days as CEO visiting railroaders across the system and vowing to restore service to normal levels. On Sunday, when he added chief executive to his title as president, Shaw headed to DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent time in the main tower, […]
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Brightline and the Florida Department of Transportation will seek a $25 million federal grant to help fund a $45 million project to address ongoing grade-crossing accidents along the passenger operator’s route in South Florida. The Palm Beach Post reports in a paywalled article that the project would make improvements at […]
SHELTON, Neb. — Fifteen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Friday evening near Shelton, Neb., temporarily closing the railroad’s main line on the Kearney Subdivision. The Grand Island Independent reports the derailment occurred about 5:45 p.m. about a mile west of Shelton along U.S. Route 30. No injuries were reported, and no hazardous materials […]
Amid lot of talk, just what is Precision Scheduled Railroading? It began with a simple lesson. In the late 1960s E. Hunter Harrison was working in the tower in Frisco’s Tennessee Yard in Memphis when Bill Thompson, the railroad’s operations chief, dropped by. Thompson pointed to the yard tracks, chocked full of freight cars, and […]
Let’s set aside the railroad industry’s current bout of temporary service problems and discuss something more important. Class I railroads’ local service — which ranges from OK to downright embarrassing — for years has been where the rubber meets the road. Shippers divert rail shipments to trucks when a local regularly fails to show up, […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 on a case involving an injury suffered by a Union Pacific employee in a decision announced Thursday, meaning a lower court ruling stands that absolves the railroad in the case. The case involved UP engineer Bradley LeDure, who was injured when slipping on oil on the walkway […]
MONTREAL — New CEO Tracy Robinson likes what she sees at Canadian National. “As I sit here, 60 days in … I can tell you that I’m more excited about our prospects than when I first arrived,” Robinson told investors and analysts on the railway’s earnings call this week. “At CN, we have an incredible […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have ordered Canadian Pacific to resubmit specific traffic density data that will be used as part of its Kansas City Southern merger application. The Surface Transportation Board’s decision, issued on Wednesday, keeps review of the first Class I railroad merger in two decades on hold. CP must submit new baseline traffic density […]
WASHINGTON — Utilities are worried that the slowdown in coal deliveries could threaten U.S. electricity supply and destabilize the power grid. Chemical producers say erratic rail service has forced them to curtail production of essentials like chlorine used to treat public drinking water systems and the plastics used in medical products. And one of the nation’s […]
ROGERS, Texas — Twenty-two cars of a BNSF Railway train derailed Sunday between Rogers and Buckholts, Texas, the Milam County Sheriff’s Office reported. No injuries were reported, and no hazardous materials were involved, KWTX-TV reports. No other information was reported. The derailment site is parallel to U.S. Route 190 about 14 miles south of Temple, […]
WESTBROOK, Conn. — A Metro-North/Connecticut Department of Transportation Kawasaki M8 electric multiple-unit trainset passes through Westbrook on Saturday, April 23, during training runs for Amtrak crews to operate the equipment. The qualifying runs between New Haven and Old Saybrook, Conn., are reportedly in preparation for use of the M8s on Connecticut’s Shore Line East commuter […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation is proposing to amend its emergency service regulations to allow immediate relief for shippers in situations requiring such action, including clarifying that the board may act on its own initiative to require emergency service. “The rail service challenges shippers are currently experiencing are amplified by certain recent conditions but are […]
