NEW YORK — With post-pandemic ridership remaining below levels forecast in 2020, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could face a “fiscal cliff” — the inability to balance its budgets — as soon as 2025, a year earlier than previously forecast, the MTA board was told Wednesday. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens told the board the agency […]
MELBOURNE, Fla. — In another small step forward for Brightline’s planned expansion of service north to Orlando, one of the passenger operator’s trains reached a top speed of 79 mph Wednesday afternoon on an approximately 20-mile stretch of Florida East Coast Railway track between Melbourne and Rockledge, Fla. Florida Today reports Brightline spokeswoman Katie Mitnzer […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. carload traffic moved back above 2021 levels for the week ending July 23, while overall traffic was down by a small margin, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Total volume was 498,901 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 0.8% compared to the corresponding week a year […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway and J.B. Hunt will begin serving a new intermodal terminal at the Port of Tacoma, Wash., next month. BNSF and the Northwest Seaport Alliance said the terminal will meet increased demand for intermodal service in the Seattle region. The new terminal, on 16 acres leased from the port authority, […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has resumed hump operations at its classification yard in Macon, Ga., and will soon reopen the hump at Bellevue, Ohio, as part of the new operating plan it began rolling out last month. Both yards were converted to flat-switching facilities in 2020 after volume sank at the onset of the pandemic. […]
PARIS — A Quebec pension fund which has been active in Canadian rail infrastructure projects is reportedly the front-runner to purchase a Paris-based locomotive leasing firm. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and a possible alternative purchaser, U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan, both outbid potential French purchasers for leasing firm Akiem. The transaction […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has released its long-anticipated rule proposal to require two-person crews for trains, drawing predictable, and strong, reactions from railroads (which are opposed), and unions (which are in favor). The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would require two-person crews except for “certain low risk operations and circumstances where mitigating measures are […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern set quarterly revenue, operating income, and earnings per share records despite lower volume and service problems related to ongoing crew shortages. “In the second quarter we stabilized service levels, expanded our pipeline of conductor trainees, and launched the next evolution of our operating plan, TOP | SPG, with our signature no […]
Wabtec will modernize 600 locomotives over a three-year period for Union Pacific in a deal valued at more than $1 billion, the largest such program in railroading history. The Associated Press first reported the agreement on Tuesday evening. The program will include 525 AC4400 and AC6000 locomotives, as well as 75 Dash-9 units which will […]
MONTREAL – Canadian National’s plan to turn the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, into the Prince Rupert of the East is gaining traction. In June CN launched a second pair of intermodal trains that serve Halifax, where terminal operator PSA now owns both container terminals and has made improvements. The port also has expanded berths […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s embargo of certain types of carload traffic bound for California has been extended into August as its Southern Transcon remains congested in the Southwest. The embargo, which took effect on June 27, applies to automotive shipments as well as specific agricultural and industrial commodities. “In response to our temporary […]
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has scrapped a plan to develop battery-electric multiple-unit trainsets for use on its non-electrified lines, Newsday reports, after determining retrofitting of existing equipment is not feasible. The LIRR and Alstom announced a partnership to develop and test the equipment on its Oyster Bay Branch in April 2021 […]
