CSX train Q-032, with a single unit on the point, crosses Rail Lane with a mix of COFC/TOFC on the Philadelphia Subdivision at Elk Mills, Md, on Feb. 16, 2019 … Michael S. Murray … and another single unit, operating as distributed power, is midtrain. CSX is increasing its use of distributed power as part […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending March 23. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 503,017 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.5 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending March 23 were […]
BNSF Railway ES44DC No. 7765 leads an intermodal train through a curved main line at Siberia, Calif., in September 2008. 08357-7 Steve Schmollinger Question: In many photos taken on open land in the West and Midwest, you can see curvature in the tracks even though there are no visible obstacles such as rock cuts, rivers, […]
The increased use of locally mined frac sand in America’s largest shale oil field, the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, is rapidly crowding out rail-hauled sand from the Midwest. On Union Pacific, for example, frac sand volume was down 45 percent this year through the first week of March, a trend the railroad […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have scheduled a May hearing on Class I railroads’ higher demurrage and accessorial charges, which can hit shippers who don’t load or unload freight cars quickly enough. The May 22 hearing, which the Surface Transportation Board announced on Wednesday, comes as shippers are complaining about the charges that have become more […]
The spate of harsh winter weather and flooding that has wreaked havoc with operations on BNSF Railway and Union Pacific has helped submerge traffic volumes, too. UP’s carload traffic fell 12 percent in the week ending March 16, while intermodal volume was down 9 percent, amid record flooding in Nebraska and a rock slide and […]
Making 90 mph on an E7, a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road foreman of engines whistles for a grade crossing east of La Crosse, Wis., in July 1955. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending March 16. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 501,001 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.8 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending March 16 were […]
CHICAGO — Indiana residents frustrated by train-blocked grade crossings must wonder if it will take an act of Congress to clear their commutes. Fed up with the failure of state laws and federal bureaucracy to carry freight with the railroads, local politicians are aiming to do just that. Officials at a Monday meeting of the […]
OTTAWA — Days after Canada’s two Class 1 railroads announced they would appeal a government order requiring the use of handbrakes on trains stopped on mountains grades, one of the county’s largest unions says it’s standing by the Crown. Last month, Transport Canada announced a new rule requiring the application of handbrakes on trains in mountainous […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has issued the following customer service advisory following a week of extreme weather in the Midwest. The troubles essentially close the railroad’s main line between Boone, Iowa, and Gibbon, Neb., a source close to the railroad tells Trains News Wire. Announcement Number: CN2019-13 Categories: General Announcements Posted Date: March 14, […]
A northbound BNSF coal train passes Coal Creek Junction, Wyo., in July 2008. Steve Glischinski Q The picture on page 42 of the March 2016 issue shows some interesting trackside equipment. It looks like they could be switch heater propane tanks, however, I don’t see any switches. – Bruce Bussert, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A The […]
