St. Croix Valley No. 1363 works at the Titan Lansing sand plant in North Branch, Minn., on Oct. 8, 2019. Steve Glischinski CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Take a look along railroad lines in western Wisconsin, and you’ll find evidence of the frac sand boom that’s meant good times for railroads. BNSF Railway serves a plant […]
Two DPU locomotives bring up the rear as an empty Union Pacific unit coal train heads west through Lombard, Ill., in June 2019. Moody’s Investor Services foresees a continued slide in production of Powder River Basin coal, previously a major source of traffic for UP and BNSF Railway. TRAINS: David Lassen NEW YORK – Despite […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 2, 2019, as well as volumes for October 2019. U.S. railroads originated 1,224,477 carloads in October 2019, down 8.4 percent, or 112,703 carloads, from October 2018. U.S. railroads also originated 1,331,944 containers and […]
A crew member returns to the locomotive after lining a switch at Canadian Pacific’s yard in Bensenville, Ill. Class I railroads have formally introduced a proposal for one-man crews on road trains. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — After hinting at it for months, Class I railroads have officially asked that single-person crews be part of […]
WASHINGTON — Six Class I railroads filed a Section 6 notice on Friday, kicking off what is expected to be a tense round of negotiations with labor unions representing more than 125,000 railroads across the country. In a press release announcing the notice, officials with the National Railway Labor Conference and the National Carriers’ Conference […]
OAK BROOK, Ill. — Lessened demand, increased competition, and closed rail lanes caused a 9% decline in third quarter intermodal volume, officials of the Hub Group announced Wednesday. Intermodal revenue declined by 7% to $539 million at the intermodal, trucking, and third-party logistics company. “Intermodal has in fact lost some share, and it’s not just […]
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Intermodal net income was down 30% in the third quarter of 2019 for major intermodal, trucking, and logistics company Schneider National. The drop was due to reduced volumes and increased rail costs, officials say. Revenue was off by 2% and Schneider’s intermodal operating ratio increased to 89.9, up from 85.8 for […]
A Canadian National crude oil trainset passes through River Forest, Ill., on Union Pacific on Sunday, Oct. 27. CN and Canadian Pacific will see an upswing in crude oil traffic following a decision by the province of Alberta to lift quotas on oil production if the oil moves by rail. TRAINS: David Lassen EDMONTON, Alberta […]
Tank cars placarded for alcohol bring up the rear of a Canadian Pacific train passing the Elmwood Park, Ill., Metra station. While many flammable materials may be moved by tank car, liquefied natural gas is not currently among them; a Department of Transportation proposal would change that. The tank cars shown are not the type […]
LOWELL, Ark. — Although its overall intermodal freight volumes were flat in the third quarter, J. B. Hunt Transport Services seeks to move more highway freight to trains. And Hunt officials say they’re also making their peace with Precision Scheduled Railroading, based on comments in a Tuesday earnings call with investors. Quarterly intermodal revenue was […]
Starting in October 2019, Classic Trains editors will celebrate the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. We start this series with the beloved Boston & Maine. Please enjoy a collection of images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M’s iconic locomotives and scarce builder’s photos. […]
A Canadian National train with Illinois Central-painted locomotives departs Chicago’s Markham Yard in 2017. TEH-17089-16 Jacob Metzger Q: When I was in the second grade, we took a field trip to what was then the largest freight yard in the country. That was over 50 years ago, when I lived in a Chicago suburb. I […]
