WASHINGTON — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application filed with the Surface Transportation Board on Friday attempts to explain away adverse effects on passenger trains by vague promises of future “targeted infrastructure enhancements,” but generally doesn’t outline what those might be. In one case, a combined UP-NS proposes adding nine daily freights to a single-track […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has clarified and stepped up enforcement of requirements that cross-border train crews demonstrate English proficiency, the Department of Transportation announced today (Dec. 19). The actions come after inspectors encountered Mexican crews at Texas gateways who appeared to have difficulty interpreting track bulletins and communicating safety requirements in English. In […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific misused confidential materials from ongoing negotiations in its most recent Surface Transportation Board filing on the ongoing UP-Metra dispute, Metra claims in a new regulatory filing. Metra’s Dec. 18 filing is the latest action in the dispute over terms of Metra commuter operations on three Chicago-area routes. It is in response […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF CEO Katie Farmer says the railroad’s initial review of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application filed today “does not change BNSF’s opposition to the proposed merger.” CPKC and Canadian National have also issued statements on the filing, with CN saying the application “falls well below both the 2001 and old […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern say their proposed transcontinental merger will take more than 2 million trucks off the road annually, boosting the combined system’s traffic by 1.4 million intermodal loads and 425,000 carloads. The nearly 12% growth projection is among the details included in the 6,692-page merger application the railroads filed […]
BNSF Railway and Union Pacific have filed lawsuits against North America’s largest producer of rail, arguing that Orion Steel’s Rocky Mountain Steel Mills broke long-term supply deals by refusing to ship more rail unless the railroads agree to price increases of more than 50%. The railroads say Rocky Mountain’s halt in rail shipments threatens safety […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern will file their merger application with federal regulators on Friday, the railroads said today. The document, which will be filed with the Surface Transportation Board, will allow the railroads to show how their combination will deliver economic benefits, enhance competition, and protect union jobs, the railroads said. […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has announced plans to develop a 2,000-acre industrial park outside Houston that will feature 1,300 acres of rail-served land. The Mainline Texas Industrial Park is just west of Rosenberg, Texas, and about 40 miles southwest of downtown Houston. It will be bordered on one side by the main line of […]
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division will oppose the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger despite UP’s promises of lifetime job protection. “This debt-ridden tie-up won’t make rail more competitive with trucks as merger proponents claim,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a statement on Wednesday […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked the Surface Transportation Board to deny Metra’s request that the board settle the terms of Metra operation on three UP lines, calling it an attempt to stall UP’s appeal of the STB decision granting trackage rights to the Chicago-area commuter railroad. In a Dec. 15 filing, UP says the […]
WASHINGTON — A trio of Southern Democratic congressmen have come out in favor of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. Calling rail freight “vital to our states and the country’s economy,” a letter from U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, and Troy Carter and Cleo Fields of Louisiana urged Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs to […]
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — Union Pacific has completed expansion of its Gasa Grande Yard, doubling capacity at the facility about 70 miles west of Tucson on the railroad’s Gila Subdivision. The project added four tracks and a new industrial lead, and included a powered switch, a new yard control point, and upgraded mainline signals. “The […]
