Thursday morning rail news: Governor announces BNSF intermodal service for North Dakota North Dakota will gain direct intermodal access to international markets for the first time through a BNSF Railway facility in Minot. Gov. Doug Burgum made the announcement Wednesday, saying that the service to begin next week will be the culmination of a more […]
More Wednesday morning rail news: San Angelo, Texas, approves deal for rail port The San Angelo, Texas, city council on Tuesday approved a $600,000 deal with South Plains Lamesa Railroad to create a rail port in the community, which one city official calls a “game changer” for the community. The San Angelo Standard-Times reports that under […]
Just after the turn of the 20th century, large terminal elevators began to appear. Grain gathered in these mammoth concrete structures (the one here holds 3.6 million bushels) at Amarillo, Texas, in 1943, is forwarded by rail to mills and to port elevators for export. Note the three boxcars for scale. Photo by Jack Delano, […]
Thursday morning rail news: Watco offers to buy state-owned route in South Dakota; state agrees to D&I purchase of Sioux Valley line Shortline holding company Watco is willing to pay up to $13 million to buy a line between Mitchell and Rapid City, S.D., from the state of South Dakota, a Watco representative told the […]
More Tuesday morning rail news: Winds derail BNSF train in Oklahoma High winds derailed a BNSF Railway train near Gage, Okla., on Monday night. The community’s fire chief estimated as many as 25 cars were derailed by winds up to 70 mph, according to KWTV News in Oklahoma City. The train included three cars of […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The two infrastructure funds that are reportedly teaming up to acquire Kansas City Southern are no strangers to the railroad industry. Blackstone Group owned Chicago & North Western in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It also owned Great Lakes Transportation, a collection of former U.S. Steel transportation companies that included […]
Thursday morning rail news: Kansas DOT proposes two-person crew requirement The Kansas Department of Transportation has proposed requiring two-person crews for trains operating in the state. The regulation proposed earlier this week would require two people in the cab of a train’s lead locomotive, with exceptions for switching, brake tests, safety inspections, and setouts. In […]
Wednesday afternoon rail news in brief: Severe weather leads to UP derailment in Texas (updated) Union Pacific has informed customers that its route between Fort Worth, Texas, and El Paso has been disrupted by a derailment near Colorado City, Texas, caused by “a severe-wind weather event.” It is warning that shipments through the area could […]
Thursday morning rail news in brief: Austin approves ‘Project Connect’ transit plan The Austin, Texas, city council and board of transit agency Capital Metro on Wednesday approved the Project Connect transit plan, a major expansion of the city’s public transportation that will include three new light rail lines — with a subway section in downtown […]
History of the Texas & Pacific What grew to become the 20th century’s Texas & Pacific Railway sprouted from some of Texas’s earliest railroads. The Lone Star State’s pre-Civil War network included 11 operating companies. One of the earliest was the Texas Western Railroad, chartered in 1850 and soon renamed Vicksburg & El Paso. In […]
Friday morning rail news: — Texas Central Railway won a significant court ruling Thursday when a state appeals court said the company is a railroad in legal terms, even though it does not yet operate any trains. The decision by Judge Nora Longoria for the Thirteenth Appeals Court of Texas overturns a lower court ruling […]
Monday morning rail news: — Today through Wednesday, the Federal Railroad Administration will conduct public hearings by phone on its proposed safety and operating standards — the “Notice of Particular Applicability” for the Texas Central high speed rail project [see “Passenger,” June 2020 Trains]. Those rules essentially would adopt the standards of the Japan Central […]
