CHICAGO — Rising intermodal volumes in Chicago have prompted Canadian Pacific to revive its Schiller Park intermodal terminal for inbound loads. CP consolidated its Chicago intermodal operations at its terminal at Bensenville Yard in 2012. The former Soo Line facility at Schiller Park remained in use as a container storage yard, spokesman Andy Cummings says, […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are becoming increasingly concerned about the widespread deterioration in railroad service metrics amid complaints from shipper groups, who say the industry is mired in a slowdown that is delaying shipments of goods from automobiles to grain. The Surface Transportation Board has asked Class I railroad chief executives to explain service problems, […]
Dots painted on trilevel auto racks indicate clearance heights. Rob Burnet Q I have seen colored painted dots on freight cars, mostly multilevel auto rack cars. What do they signify? – Rob Burnet, Etobicoke, Ont., Canada A Colored marks on auto multi-levels are to designate slightly different deck height clearances on trilevels. Orange dots indicate […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific will discontinue its pioneering Expressway short-haul intermodal service on June 1, ending a nearly two-decade experiment of luring trucks off Highway 401 between Toronto and Montreal. From its launch in May 1999 as the successor to the Iron Highway concept developed by CSX Intermodal, the Expressway roll-on, roll-off trailer-on-flatcar trains […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway reported higher revenue and earnings for 2017 amid volume growth and pricing increases. The railroad’s pre-tax earnings rose 11.2 percent last year, to $6.3 billion, as revenue climbed 7.9 percent, to $21.4 billion, BNSF’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. BNSF’s operating ratio was 65.7 percent, an improvement […]
On Aug. 6, 2012, a single Illinois Central manned helper locomotive brings up the rear of a southbound Canadian National intermodal train working up Byron Hill on the Waukesha Subdivision near Byron, Wis. Tom Danneman Q How do locomotive engineers know they are doing equal work on trains equipped with manned helpers? – Robert A. […]
WASHINGTON — Media outlets report that Ron Batory is now confirmed as the Federal Railroad Administration’s administrator. Washington media outlets Politico and the Hill report that the U.S. Senate confirmed Batory, the former Conrail Shared Assets head, along with two other nominees. U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., had held Batory’s nomination as […]
The remains of the lead locomotive of Amtrak’s Silver Star after it crashed into a CSX Transportation freight train on Feb. 4, 2018. Jonathan Hinely When a misaligned switch sent Amtrak’s Silver Star barreling into a parked CSX Transportation train in South Carolina last week, killing two Amtrak crewmen and injuring more than 100 passengers, […]
MINNEAPOLIS — Loram Maintenance of Way Inc. based in Minneapolis and Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. based in Georgetown, Texas, today announced that they have completed a definitive merger agreement under which Loram will acquire all outstanding shares of GREX. “GREX and Loram share a passion for innovation and customer service. The combined strength of this […]
A southbound ‘Acela’ races across a stretch of positive train control trackage on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor at Perryville, Md., on June 5, 2011. Michael T. Burkhart This story first appeared in the October 2011 issue of Trains Magazine. The Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System highlighted here was not active at the time of the of […]
Confidential Close Call reporting basics A New Jersey Transit train zips northward from Atlantic City to New York’s Penn Station on Jan. 23, 2010. If the crew were to err, they could report the close call and be part of a bigger program to improve safety, rather than be punished. Dennis A. Livesay photograph Confidential […]
Positive Train Control Tick, tock. U.S. railroads have collectively spent decades and billions of dollars on positive train control research. Tick. Public outcry after a 2008 commuter crash that killed 25 people — a crash that a Federal safety panel says PTC could have prevented — pushed Congress to act. Tock. With a Congressional deadline […]
