Canadian National’s purchase of the CSX Massena line, shown in purple, has been approved. Canadian National WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Monday approved Canadian National’s acquisition of CSX Transportation’s line linking the Montreal area with Syracuse, N.Y., a deal the railroads say will improve service for cross-border traffic. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision, effective […]
The City of New Orleans stops at Hazlehurst, Miss., in May 2018. CN is not allowing the train to stop here when it makes its stop to switch passengers to and from buses further south at McComb, Miss. Bob Johnston CN’s trestle over the Bonnet Carre Spillway, as seen from an Amtrak Thruway bus in […]
A screen shot from BNSF’s video updating its response to the COVID-19 virus. BNSF Railway Three Class I railroads have released videos addressing their response to the coronavirus pandemic. BNSF Railways’ video, available here, features Jon Gabriel, general superintendent of the railroad’s Network Operations Center in Fort Worth, Texas. It updates current service and moves […]
MONTREAL – Canadian National continues to scale back its operations as traffic declines amid the coronavirus pandemic. The railroad furloughed several hundred people in the past week, on top of the 1,400 who were furloughed in the past couple of weeks, CEO JJ Ruest said on an investor webcast Thursday. CN’s traffic was down 13% […]
A northbound Canadian National merchandise train overtakes a local near Byron, Wis., in July 2019. With carloads down 6% this year, CN has currently furloughed 7% of its workforce. TRAINS: David Lassen MONTREAL — Canadian National will cut costs as carload volume falls amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the railway expects bulk and domestic intermodal […]
A New Haven-bound Metro-North train arrives in Westport, Conn., in August 2019. Metro-North reported an almost 50 percent drop in ridership during Thursday’s morning commute. TRAINS: David Lassen Friday morning rail news related to the coronavirus outbreak: — Some commuter rail agencies are seeing reduced ridership in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, with significant […]
The indigenous group manning Canada’s last significant rail blockade has allowed Canadian Pacific to inspect its tracks near Montreal, and is expected to make an announcement about the future of the protest today. The Montreal Gazette reports CP employees cleared some debris from the track Wednesday afternoon after Mohawks in Kahnawake, Quebec, allowed the railroad […]
The Wednesday morning rail roundup: — In a significant blow to the fledgling commuter rail service, California voters in Sonoma and Marin counties have turned down a measure extending the quarter-cent sales tax that funds Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit. Approval of the measure would have guaranteed funding through 2059, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports; without […]
Tuesday morning rail news: — Union Pacific and the city of Palestine, Texas, have been ordered to go to mediation over UP’s efforts to do away with a 150-year-old agreement requiring the railroad to keep a set number of jobs in the community. The Palestine Herald-Press reports a federal court is requiring the sites to […]
New blockades continued to appear on Canadian rail lines on Tuesday, extending the disruption of rail service which is approaching the start of its fourth week. In the Toronto area, a protest that blocked GO Transit’s Milton line, which runs west of the city, was broken up about 3 a.m. today by police. Three people […]
In a deal brokered by the Canadian government, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National trains have been sharing some rail routes to bypass blockades by protesters, most notably the Tyendinaga Mohawk blockade near Belleville, Ontario, that was broken up Monday by Ontario Provincial Police. The CBC reports the arrangement began last week but was kept quiet […]
News reports say several people were arrested Monday at a rail blockade near Belleville, Ontario, after protesters ignored a midnight deadline to clear the site, the first in a series of locations where rail service has been disrupted across Canada. New blockades appeared elsewhere over the weekend. Some VIA Rail Canada and commuter rail service […]
