CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Iowa Interstate Railroad marked the 100th birthday of its founding chairman, Dr. Paul H. Banner, last week, reminding the railroad industry of his contributions to the industry in leadership roles at Southern Railway and the Rock Island as well as the Midwestern regional railroad. Banner’s birthday was June 30. […]
Williamsport-bound At Fassett, Pa., just south of the New York state line, I1 4315 gets a roll on a Williamsport-bound freight. Rugged, simple, powerful, and compact, the I1’s served for four decades. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
KAMLOOPS, British Columbia — VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian, luxury cruise train Rocky Mountaineer, and Amtrak’s Coast Starlight have had their operations disrupted by western wildfires, with trains running over only part of their routes because of fire damage. The wildfire that decimated the town of Lytton, B.C., halted last week’s westbound Canadian about 100 miles […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Seven projects will receive a total of $4.05 million in grants from the Minnesota Department of Transportation under its Minnesota Rail Service Improvement program. The seven, chosen from 21 applicants, were selected for their ability to aid economic development throughout the state. “The number of applicants for the 2021 MRSI grants […]
KANSAS CITY — Kansas City Southern and Midstream Texas Operating are combining to build a new transload facility for petroleum and petrochemical products in Corpus Christi, Texas, for shipment into Mexico, the companies announced this week. The facility will be built by MTO on property leased from KCS. When operations begin, which is expected to […]
Intermodal analyst Larry Gross has gone out on a limb. In his latest “Intermodal in Depth” report, Gross predicts the demise of TOFC, or trailer on flatcar service, within the next four years. In some ways, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Trailers have become a smaller and smaller part of the intermodal world as […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. freight volume for the week ending June 26 remained well ahead of figures for the same week a year earlier, while also showing a small uptick from previous-week figures. Statistics from the Association of American Railroads show that U.S. railroads moved 516,167 carloads and intermodal units for the week, a 12.4% increase […]
Shipping container New York Central (and subsidiary Michigan Central) had a large fleet of steel auto cars by the early 1920s. These had 10-foot door openings with 6- and 4-foot platesteel doors. New York Central photo […]
WASHINGTON — Five rail-related projects are among 24 selected to receive $905.25 million in federal grants under the fiscal 2021 Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program. The announcement of the proposed awards begins a 60-day period for Congress to review the proposed awards; after that review period, the U.S. Department of Transportation is free to […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has questioned Canadian National’s plan to sell Kansas City Southern’s route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., as part of the planned merger of the two railroads, a plan which would see CN retain the right to operate on the route along with a freight tenant. The Amtrak comment came as […]
NEWBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Cleanup continued Tuesday after 33 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed Monday afternoon midway between Harrisburg and York, Pa. The York Daily Record reports plastic PVC pellets spilled from one car, and hazmat teams were part of the initial response to the derailment because some of the cars involved displayed […]
Center of commerce A Pennsylvania Railroad Geep pulls a string of express cars in front of railroad’s Polk Street freight station near Chicago Union Station. Polk was the country’s largest freight terminal when built in 1918. Ed DeRouin photo […]
