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. […]
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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 […]
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ORANGEVILLE, Ontario — GIO Rail operated the final train on the 34-mile Orangeville-Brampton Railway on Dec. 17, 2021, ending service on a line dating to 1879. The final train departed Orangeville for Streetsville, Ont., at about 9:15 a.m., with about 100 people on hand, following a brief ceremony and photo opportunity including GIO President Gerry […]
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SYCAMORE, Ga. — Some 14 cars of a Norfolk Southern intermodal train derailed Friday near Sycamore, closing an adjacent highway. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were involved. Turner County Fire/Emergency Management Agency reported U.S. 41 had been blocked by the derailment, which occurred about 7:30 a.m. Friday. Part of the route was […]
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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s State Transportation Commission has approved $33 million in spending for 25 projects to improve freight rail operations in the state, Gov. Tom Wolf announced last week. Eleven railroads, as well as shippers and local government agencies, will receive state funding in amounts ranging from $87,000 to $9 million for track improvements, […]
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The new Sherman Hill line in 1953 was Union Pacific’s latest improvement over the massive undertaking of building and maintaining a transcontinental railroad begun about 90 years earlier. Since the first surveyors ventured into the uplands west of Cheyenne in 1865, the Union Pacific has been waging intermittent war against the geography of southeastern Wyoming. […]
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NEW YORK — A Long Island Rail Road dispatcher supervisor and dispatcher have been disciplined after being found asleep on the job by investigators from the Office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector General. A report by Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny says the office received a tip that overnight dispatchers were turning off the lights […]
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OTTAWA — Transport Canada has announced changes to track inspection rules increasing the frequency of inspections in some areas, as well as rules governing use of automated track-inspection technology. The rules announced by Transport Minister Omar Alghabra will increase the frequency of track inspections in higher-risk areas where trains travel at greater speeds while carrying […]
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FILLMORE, Calif. —California short line operator Sierra Northern Railway will be the new operator of Ventura County’s Piru to Montalvo, Calif., rail line, the Ventura County Transportation Commission has decided. By a 13-1 vote, the commission approved the contract for operation of the 30-mile, county-owned former Southern Pacific branch, to be known as the Sierra […]
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ROSELLE, Ill. — Eight Chicago suburbs are forming a coalition to voice concerns over the potential increase in rail traffic through their communities if the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger is approved. The suburban Daily Herald reports Roselle, Elgin, Barlett, Hanover Park, Schaumburg, Itasca, Wood Dale and Bensenville are asking residents to submit comments to […]
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WASHINGTON — A Surface Transportation Board decision has cleared the way for construction of Utah’s Uinta Basin Railway. In a decision issued Wednesday, the board granted the exemption sought by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition to construct the 85-mile line to connect oilfields in western Utah to the national rail network at a junction with […]
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MIAMI — Tri-Rail and Brightline are each suggesting the other party is at fault after Tri-Rail management told the agency’s board last week that the commuter agency’s trains would not clear the platform at Brightline’s MiamiCentral station [see “Tri-Rail service to Brightline’s Miami station faces clearance issues …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 13, 2021]. The […]
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