Will the persistent low water levels in the Panama Canal and ongoing attacks on ships bound to and from the Suez Canal wind up diverting international container traffic to West Coast ports? Railroad executives think so, although most say a shift in international intermodal volume has yet to materialize. The drought in Panama has prompted […]
WASHINGTON — In the latest twist in a long-running Chicago interchange dispute, federal regulators yesterday ruled that it’s unreasonable for Canadian National to unilaterally designate the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard as the location where it will exchange traffic with rival Canadian Pacific Kansas City. It’s the second time that the Surface Transportation Board […]
Bunge, an agricultural company, has become the first shipper to join the RailPulse freight car telematics joint venture. “By joining RailPulse as the first railcar-owning shipper, we are taking a proactive step toward driving positive change and digital transformation within the rail shipping industry,” Terry McDermott, director of supply chain – North American Rail at […]
Locomotive power 2024 Someone turned on the new locomotive faucet, but its just a slow drip right now. For several years no new six-axle freight locomotives have been built for North America’s Class I railroads. Now, there are some signs of life. Last year saw orders from Canadian National and BNSF Railway — Canadian National […]
Amtrak is beginning to give its General Electric locomotive fleet a look in keeping with its newer units. Fresh from an overhaul at the Beech Grove Heavy Maintenance Facility, Amtrak P42 No. 174, manufactured in 2001, sports a variation of the paint scheme the company uses on its new Siemens Charger locomotives as it leads the […]
More than a few times, photographs in the Kalmbach library have sent me searching for railroads and places I’ve never encountered, and a few weeks ago some 8 x 10 prints lined up perfectly with travel plans. The destination: Mendocino, Calif., the charming old lumber town up the coast 155 miles from San Francisco. My […]
WASHINGTON — The 180-day nationwide safety blitz that the Federal Railroad Administration conducted in the wake of the Feb. 3, 2023, hazardous materials derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, found that railroads’ track, equipment, and processes were generally in compliance with federal regulations. But the FRA, outlining its findings in a report released last week, did […]
An EMD AR20 alternator from CSX SD70MAC 4549 at the railroad’s Huntington, W.Va., shop. Chris Guss Understanding brake horsepower: Diesel engines, like all engines, are built to perform a specific function. In a locomotive, that role is to provide power to move freight cars from one place to another. When buying locomotives, one thing management […]
NEW YORK — Missing bolts on a subway car and a track misalignment led to the derailment of a New York City Transit subway train at Coney Island on Jan. 10, the New York Daily News reports in a paywalled article. Four bolts were missing from the car’s radius arm, part of the suspension system, […]
KEENESBURG, Colo. — Amtrak’s eastbound California Zephyr derailed Monday night after striking a truck at a grade crossing northeast of Denver, KDVR-TV reports. Amtrak said that “no serious customer injuries” occurred in the collision and derailment that occurred about 10 p.m. east of Keenesburg, according to the Colorado State Patrol, although an exact number was […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation has extended a $31.4 million Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan to the Sierra Northern Railway and Mendocino Railway for infrastructure improvement work, DOT’s Build America Bureau announced on Monday. Funding will finance almost 100% of work including expansion of 6.7 miles of Sierra Northern’s Oakdale Branch for […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority eliminated 16 speed restrictions during two sets of maintenance shutdowns on the Green Line this month, the agency said Monday, including the completion of all work related to out-of-gauge track stemming from the construction of the Green Line extension between North Station and the Union Square and Medford/Tufts […]
