RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation will again attempt to sell a group of former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus railcars, about a month after four of the cars were destroyed in a fire. The Statesville Independent Tribune reports the state has steeply discounted its asking price for five remaining […]
WASHINGTON — The slow pace of the Surface Transportation Board hearing on Amtrak Gulf Coast service continued Tuesday, the proceeding’s second day, when just one additional witness testified and was questioned. But the appearance of that witness, CSX Senior Vice President of Mechanical and Engineering Ricky Johnson, provided significant insight into how CSX operates on […]
Saluda Grade future possibilities are murky. Nearly 22 years have passed since freight trains descended Southern Railway’s Saluda Mountain. Kudzu vines conceal the right-of-way in many places and heavy Appalachian rains have washed away sections of track. Although shrubs and small trees are reclaiming North America’s steepest main line in rural western North Carolina, Norfolk […]
WASHINGTON — Monday’s first day of a Surface Transportation Board hearing on Amtrak’s request to initiate service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., moved so slowly that some attorneys speculated that the four days this week allotted for the hearing may not be enough. In almost eight hours, the hearing barely progressed past opening statements […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has turned down a request to order mediation in the Amtrak Gulf Coast case. CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority/Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks had requested mediation, which Amtrak had opposed. In the decision released today (Friday, April 1), the board says it “unfortunate” that […]
People line up to tour the cab of brand-new Seaboard Air Line E4 passenger diesel No. 3001 in 1938. SAL’s 14 A units and 5 B units were the only Electro-Motive units to carry the E4 model designation. Louis A. Marre coll. […]
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Coast Guard official asked to meet with the parties involved in the Amtrak Gulf Coast dispute says the service branch will deal directly with federal regulators, the parties have informed the Surface Transportation Board. In a joint filing Monday by Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority […]
WASHINGTON — The three parties opposing Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service have asked the Surface Transportation Board to require mediation in the case, set for a hearing before the board in April. Amtrak has filed a response opposing the request. In a Friday, March 25, joint filing, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators should toss out Norfolk Southern’s request for trackage rights over Kansas City Southern from Shreveport, La., to the Dallas area as part of the proposed Canadian Pacific-KCS merger, CSX Transportation says. NS sees Canadian Pacific Kansas City as a threat to its Meridian Speedway intermodal traffic. And so NS says it may […]
MT. JULIET, Tenn. — Eleven cars of a train on R.J. Corman’s Nashville & Eastern Railroad derailed Monday, briefly leading to a shelter-in-place order for a local school while a potential hazardous-material situation was investigated. WTVF-TV reports the derailment occurred near midday in Mt. Juliet, a suburb about 17 miles east of downtown Nashville. Nearby […]
CLEWISTON, Fla. — U.S. Sugar’s Sugar Express will operate its restored Alco 4-6-2 steam locomotive, No. 148, on two days of train rides between Clewiston and Moore Haven in April. Two-hour round trips on April 9-10 will depart Clewiston at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. each day. Each trip will feature No. 148 […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has asked parties involved in the upcoming hearing on Amtrak Gulf Coast service to be prepared to report on a meeting with the U.S. Coast Guard over drawbridge operations on the route, as well as several other issues, at the hearing scheduled for April 4. In a decision issued […]
