ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern President Alan Shaw spent his first two days as CEO visiting railroaders across the system and vowing to restore service to normal levels. On Sunday, when he added chief executive to his title as president, Shaw headed to DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent time in the main tower, […]
Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires retired over the weekend, passing the baton to new NS President Alan Shaw effective May 1. Squires, who became chief executive in 2015, had an eventful tenure at the helm. Under Squires’ watch, NS fended off unwanted merger advances from Canadian Pacific, pared its Triple Crown RoadRailer service amid the […]
WASHINGTON — A Norfolk Southern conductor killed in a February 2019 accident in Baltimore was riding on the side of a car in a close-clearance area — contrary to rules prohibiting such an action — when he was pinned between his train and a car on an adjacent track, according to a National Transportation Safety […]
WASHINGTON — There were more questions than answers on Tuesday as federal regulators sought ways to remedy railroad service problems that defy a quick fix because they are rooted in a shortage of train crews. Shippers told the Surface Transportation Board that rail service has deteriorated, with delays mounting as transit times have in some […]
DORCHESTER, S.C. — Norfolk Southern will permanently protect 1,105 acres of coastal wetlands in South Carolina through a conservation easement, the company announced Tuesday. The protected land is home to the Coldwater Branch Stream and Westland Mitigation Bank at Brosnan Forest, the company’s 14,400-acre time and wildlife preserve 35 miles northwest of Charleston at Dorchester. […]
Executives from the big four U.S. railroads — BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific — will take turns in the hot seat next week during two days of Surface Transportation Board hearings on widespread service problems. Federal regulators, fed up with ongoing shipper complaints, will want to know how and when the […]
WASHINGTON — Switching details and conflicting traffic modeling assumptions dominated discussions at the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing into Amtrak plans to launch passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. The seventh and eighth days of testimony and cross-examination, spread over three weeks, on the dispute over plans for two daily Amtrak round trips precedes […]
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Union Pacific’s plan to begin metering traffic as of today will curtail fertilizer shipments and put crops at risk, a major fertilizer producer says. “The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers,” CF Industries CEO Tony Will said in a statement on Thursday. […]
WASHINGTON — Two days of testimony that made up the second week of the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on Amtrak Gulf Coast service delved into the intricacies of traffic modeling and its data inputs, and made clear both that Amtrak had no role in that modeling, and that consideration of changes to freight operations were […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has added three locations to those offering $5,000 starting bonuses for its conductor trainee program. Bonuses are now available for trainees in Bellevue, Ohio; Elkhart, Ind.; and Fort Wayne, Ind., the company said in a press release. The railroad offers similar bonuses at a dozen other “priority locations” announced in February […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators on Thursday gave the green light to CSX Transportation’s acquisition of New England regional Pan Am Railways. The Surface Transportation Board’s unanimous, 75-page decision approving the merger becomes effective on May 14. But CSX said it planned to close on the transaction on June 1. Regulators largely agreed with CSX’s arguments […]
WASHINGTON – The trade group representing sugar shippers has told federal regulators that rail service problems have forced some of its members to stop or curtail production of food and beverages. The Sweetener Users Association, which wrote to the Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday, is the latest trade group to complain about poor rail service […]
