Kentucky awards almost $3 million for rail infrastructure projects

Logo of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Paducah & Louisville Railway, R.J. Corman, and Norfolk Southern are among the recipients of funding from the Commonwealth of Kentucky for grade-crossing safety projects, part of almost $3 million in funding awarded under a pair of grant programs by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Projects on the three railroads were among seven […]

Read More…

Ohio commission awards $1.9 million for grade crossing projects

Logo of the Public Utiliities Commission of Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four short line or regional railroads will receive funds totaling $1.9 million for four grade crossing improvements following approval Wednesday, Jan. 7, by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The Ann Arbor Railroad received the maximum available, up to $500,000, from the state Grade Crossing Projection Fund for a project to upgrade […]

Read More…

First Northlander trainset unveiled

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — The Government of Ontario today celebrated the arrival of the first of three new Siemens trainsets built for the revival of Northlander passenger service, introducing the equipment at a press conference featuring Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria. “The Northlander is more than a train,” Ford said during the […]

Read More…

Alstom workers at Plattsburgh, N.Y., ratify new contract

Logo of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Workers at Alstom Transportation’s factory in Plattsburgh, N.Y., have ratified their first collective bargaining agreement, following their earlier vote to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The three-year agreement includes an immediate 3% pay raise over a 2.8% increase already received in April 2025; a classification system with increased […]

Read More…

SEPTA making progress in Silverliner repairs

Meet of electric multiple-unit commuter trains

PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is making progress in federally mandated repairs to its Silverliner IV fleet, meaning Regional Rail passengers could soon see an end to the overcrowded conditions that resulted from that equipment being sidelined. The news site Billy Penn reports that SEPTA has now received the thermal wire it needs […]

Read More…

Metra passenger died falling or jumping from train, according to coroner

Commuter train arrives at station with station sign in foreground

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. — A man found dead along Metra’s Milwaukee North line last week apparently died when he fell off or tried to step off of a moving train, according to the Lake County, Ill., coroner’s office. The body of 30-year-old Allen Chiquini was found the evening of Friday, Jan. 2, near Winchester Drive and […]

Read More…

Trans-isthmus railway remains closed following fatal derailment

Map of Mexico's FIT (Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec)

NIZANDA, Mexico — Eleven days after a derailment that killed 14 people, two lines of Mexico’s Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec remain closed, with no estimate when they will reopen. Along with the trans-isthmus railway’s Z Line, where the Interoceanic Train derailed on Dec. 28, an additional route known as the K Line also remains […]

Read More…

UP-NS merger likely to be focus of MARS winter meeting

Man at podium

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — CEOs with strongly opposing views of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger will be the keynote speakers at the annual winter meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, a key annual gathering of railroad officials and customers where discussion of the merger is likely to be the leading topic. The event at […]

Read More…

Weekly U.S. rail traffic shows 4% drop

Weekly table showing U.S. carload rail traffic by commodity type and overall intermodal volume.

WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic fell 4% for the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Volume for the week was 404,293 carloads and intermodal units, with 192,665 carloads, down 2.8% from the corresponding week a year earlier, and 211,628 containers and trailers, down 5.1%. Because of the […]

Read More…

Watco CEO Smith becomes chairman of company board

Watco logo, new version as of 2022

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Watco has announced changes in its leadership, adding new or additional roles for several of its top executives. CEO Dan Smith, who joined Watco in 2009 and became CEO in 2018, has also become executive chairman of the Watco board of directors, while Rick Baden, previously executive vice president and chief financial […]

Read More…

Nolan joins Anacostia as chief legal officer

Head shot of smiling woman

CHICAGO — Anacostia Rail Holdings has appointed Aimee Nolan as chief legal officer, the company announced today (Jan. 7). Nolan will oversee legal, compliance, governance, and risk functions. She most recently was general counsel at Zoro Tools Inc., a subsidiary of W.W. Grainger, and had previously spent 25 years at W.W. Grainger, most recently as […]

Read More…

CSX lays off 166 managerial workers, furloughs conductors

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX has laid off 166 management employees, about 5% of the non-union workforce, in cuts announced to employees today (Jan. 7). Other cost-cutting moves, according to Trains sources, include cuts to some management benefits and furloughs to 193 conductors, including 61 covered by the railroad’s Baltimore & Ohion union agreement and 132 […]

Read More…