Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern detail merger-related corridor upgrades

Freight train with one yellow locomotive and one black locomotive

OMAHA, Neb. — A Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger will lead to higher daily train counts on some key corridors as the railroads tie their networks together, eliminate interchanges, and take shortcuts to avoid Chicago and other gateways. The railroads’ merger application, filed with the Surface Transportation Board on Dec. 19, details projected traffic increases on […]

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Investigation begins into fatal Interoceanic Train crash

Aerial view of passenger train derailment

MEXICO CITY — A government investigation into the cause of Sunday’s fatal derailment of Mexico’s Interoceanic Train has begun, with President Claudia Sheinbaum ordering the federal Attorney General’s Office to lead that inquiry,  according to the news site Quinto Poder (Fifth Estate). Thirteen people were killed when the train derailed Sunday morning near Nizanda in […]

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Trains’ top stories of 2025, No. 2: NextGen Acelas debut

Nine years after Amtrak inked a $2.45 billion contract with Alstom, builder of France’s TGV, to build 28 trainsets in the U.S., the new equipment debuted on Aug. 27 with a media trip from Washington Union Station to Boston’s South Station. Beginning the next day, the five Next Generation trainsets that had been accepted began […]

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Goss, R.J. Corman Railroad Co. president, to retire

Head and shoulders image of man in coat and tie

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. — Raymond Goss, president of the R.J. Corman Railroad Co., will retire effective Jan. 30, 2026, the company has announced. He will depart following five decades in the rail industry and seven years leading R.J. Corman short line and switching operations. “Ray has been an exceptional leader whose steady hand and deep industry […]

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UP says it did not misuse confidential material in Metra filing

Two commuter trains side by side at suburban station

WASHINGTON — Union Pacific is disputing Metra’s claim that it “misused confidential communications” in a recent Surface Transportation Board filing in the ongoing fight over the commuter operator’s access to UP’s lines. In a Dec. 24 filing posted to the STB website today (Dec. 29), UP says the material it cited was permissible because it […]

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Great Plains museum nears fundraising goal for Santa Fe No. 93

worn down looking Santa Fe locomotive

WICHITA, Kan. — The Great Plains Transportation Museum is nearing its goal of raising $50,000 for additional restoration work on Santa Fe FP45 No. 93, thanks to a series of large direct donations to the museum that followed the announcement of a GoFundMe program. The direct donations from the museum included large donations ranging from […]

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At least 13 dead in derailment of Mexico’s Interoceanic Train

People climbing hillside

NIZANDA, Mexico — At least 13 people have been killed in a Sunday derailment of Mexico’s Interoceanic train, the two-year-old service across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec launched with a mix of secondhand U.S. and British equipment. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in a social media post quoting the secretary of the navy, said that 98 people […]

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UP-NS merger plan calls for idling of intermodal, automotive facilities in gateway cities

Freight train with yellow locomotives passing building with "Union Station" sign

OMAHA, Neb. — While the end-to-end nature of Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger limits the amount of redundant trackage or facilities, the railroads do have some duplication of facilities at their current interchange gateways. The merger application submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Dec. 19 calls for two intermodal terminals and two auto processing facilities […]

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Trains’ top stories of 2025: No. 3, CSX’s big projects

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX made headlines in the fall when it completed a pair of massive projects within weeks of each other: The opening of the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore after a long-awaited double-stack clearance project, and the rebuilding of the hurricane-damaged Blue Ridge Subdivision in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. CSX shut […]

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Trains’ top stories of 2025, No. 4: Mardi Gras Service debuts

Man speaks at podium with large crowd of onlookers behind him

Blaring locomotive horns announce the presence of four new passenger trains every day at most of the 170 grade crossings on the 144 miles between New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal and a temporary platform at Mobile, Ala. Two daily Amtrak Mardi Gras round trips have been running since Aug. 18, days after throngs turned out […]

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