Produce to the people Chicago and other large cities had produce yards and team tracks where dozens or hundreds of cars would arrive each day for auction and sale to local buyers. Photo by Chicago & North Western […]
Produce to the people
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Things that go bump on third trick
Third trick — the midnight to 8 a.m. shift — could be a long, quiet time for railroad telegraph operators. Although during the summer months it gets light long before third trick is over, in winter, most of the shift is worked in darkness. One night during World War II at the isolated station of […]
Union Pacific tangles with activist investor over annual climate-change vote proposal
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has resisted an activist investment firm’s push to allow shareholders to have an annual non-binding vote on the railroad’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. London-based TCI Fund Management, which has investments in Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and UP, contends that a company’s greenhouse gas emissions will have an impact […]
Federal regulators reject short line plan to revive UP’s Tennessee Pass line
WASHINGTON — It’s back to the drawing board for Rio Grande Pacific’s plans to lease and revive Union Pacific’s long-dormant route over Tennessee Pass in Colorado. The Surface Transportation Board on Thursday rejected the exemption that Rio Grande Pacific sought for the transaction. Under board rules, small deals such as a lease or sale of […]
California high speed authority approves business plan, hears details of single-track proposal
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A year behind schedule because of three COVID-related delays, the board of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority voted 6-3 Thursday to send a business plan to the state legislature calling for an initial operating segment between Central Valley cities of Merced and Bakersfield, with the possibility of opening that segment as a single-track […]
Some states begin restoring Amtrak corridor frequencies; others continue planning (updated)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Anticipating rail travel demand comes with dual challenges: incur costs running trains with initial low patronage, or risk not providing enough options to build revenue and transportation relevance. Amtrak will begin restoring daily departures for its long-distance trains in late May, after receiving directives and $1.7 billion from Congress [see “As Amtrak […]
Long Island Rail Road releases new schedules, unveils new seating-information tools
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has posted new timetables effective March 29, as well as improved technology to help riders know about seat availability on trains. The timetables announced Wednesday restore the weekday levels of service that had been in place Jan. 25 through March 5. The railroad reduced weekday service as […]
Weekly U.S. rail traffic figures skewed by comparison to start of pandemic’s lockdown period
WASHINGTON — The weekly U.S. rail traffic figures from the Association of American Railroad are entering a period where year-to-year comparisons will be skewed because, at this point a year ago, the U.S. economy began to deal with widespread pandemic-related shutdowns, triggering significant reductions in rail traffic. With that in mind, the figures for the […]
Landmark former PRR tower facing demolition
MG Tower, a landmark on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Pittsburgh Line through the Allegheny Mountains, is reportedly facing demolition by current owner Norfolk Southern 27 years after its closure. The tower was built to help the Pennsylvania deal with the increased demand to transport war materials, troops, civilian passenger trains, and regular freight shipments. In […]
Canadian Pacific, Kansas City Southern seek regulatory approval of merger within 10 months
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern plan to file their merger application with U.S. regulators on or around June 28 and have proposed a 10-month review of the deal that would create the first railroad to link the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The railroads told the Surface Transportation Board that their proposed review timetable […]
Wabtec to acquire maintenance-of-way equipment firm Nordco
PITTSBURGH — Wabtec Corp. has announced a “definitive agreement” to acquire Nordco, a supplier of new, rebuilt, and used maintenance-of-way equipment, from Greenbriar Equity Group LP for $400 million in cash. Nordco’s product line includes mobile railcar movers and ultrasonic rail flaw detection technologies, with equipment and services supporting North American customers ranging from Class […]
Analysis: Amtrak’s Gulf Coast STB filing to test right of access
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s 826-page petition to the Surface Transportation Board, filed last week, is the latest salvo in efforts to establish passenger trains on routes of railroads not currently hosting service. The STB’s eventual decision could have a significant impact on what investment is required for service expansion. The filing argues Amtrak has made good […]
