SAN DIEGO — The San Diego area will receive $300 million from the new California state budget for a plan to relocate the Surf Line inland from the Del Mar bluffs, a contribution a regional official called “a critical down payment” on a project estimated to cost $2.5 billion or more. The San Diego Union-Tribune […]
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BENNET, Neb. — A BNSF Railway spur line is expected to be out of service for three weeks after a bridge collapsed as a result of a coal-train derailment Thursday evening. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said 18 cars were involved in the derailment, which occurred about 5 p.m. BNSF spokesman Ben Wilemon told the […]
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amtrak and BNSF Railway have filed suit against the company that owns the dump truck involved in Monday’s fatal collision and derailment of the Southwest Chief — and the widow of the truck driver has sued a BNSF employee and the county where the accident occurred. KCTV reports Amtrak and BNSF […]
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MENDON, Mo. — National Transportation Safety Board investigators spent their first day on the scene of Monday’s fatal Southwest Chief derailment worked to gather information on train speed and other data from the locomotive event recorder, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Tuesday evening. The NTSB also sought to examine video from the P42 […]
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ROCHELLE, Ill. — The Rochelle City Council has approved more than $30,000 for the first part of a three-phase plan to upgrade the Rochelle Railroad Park, the popular facility at the crossing of BSNF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad main lines. The Rochelle News-Leader reports that at a Monday meeting, the council approved a $30,750 […]
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Former Santa Fe bicentennial diesel No. 5704 is on its way to its new home in California. Photographer William Tollett caught the SD45-2, restored to its mid-1970s paint scheme earlier this year, on Thursday, June 23, at Panhandle, Texas, on BNSF Railway train ZPLKLAC6-22. The locomotive was donated to the Southern California Railroad Museum in […]
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FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s decision to meter a broad range of carload traffic bound for California beginning next week is aimed at preventing congestion from worsening on the busy Southern Transcon during the Fourth of July holiday period when many crews mark off. The west end of the Southern Transcon, which carries 80 […]
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FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway will limit carload traffic bound for California through the end of July as it struggles to overcome congestion related to crew shortages and bad weather along portions of its Southern Transcon. The railroad made the permit embargo announcement in a Thursday advisory to customers. It will take effect on […]
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CHICAGO — The family of a Metra passenger killed in a May 11 grade-crossing accident has filed suit against the commuter agency and BNSF Railway, as well as the moving company whose truck was involved in the accident and the driver of the truck. The Daily Herald reports the suit filed Wednesday in Cook County […]
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WASHINGTON — A major grain shipper opposes Canadian National’s effort to force Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to divest the KCS line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City. Earlier this year CN asked the Surface Transportation Board to condition approval of the CP-KCS merger on divestiture of KCS’s Springfield Line. CN promises to spend […]
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a lower-court ruling striking down an Oklahoma law allowing railroads to be fined for blocking grade crossings longer than 10 minutes. The Oklahoman newspaper reports the court turned down without comment Oklahoma’s appeal of a decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which […]
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The U.S. Class I railroads’ recurring crew shortages, related bouts of service problems, and a lack of meaningful volume growth are intertwined. You can lay the blame for all three problems at just one place: Wall Street. BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are in the midst of the mother of all […]
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