QUINCY, Mass. – RailState, which monitors rail traffic using a network of sensors placed on public property along main lines, has provided a snapshot of long trains rolling along BNSF Railway and Union Pacific main lines in the Southwest during December. Although only 1% of freight trains in the U.S. exceed 14,000 feet, RailState data […]
PUEBLO, Colo. — SunTrain, a San Francisco company, is designing a method to transport power by rail, moving containerized batteries between solar and wind farms in Colorado to existing rail-served power plants in the Denver area. The concept is that batteries, inside standard 20-foot containers and loaded onto 89-foot railcars, are charged at originating solar […]
PAYETTE, Idaho — A 40-year-old Idaho man has been arrested in connection with the discovery of an improvised explosive device attached to a railcar in the town of Payette, the Idaho Stateman reports. Brent Sharrai of Payette was arrested on New Year’s Day after police followed footprints through fresh snow leading from the railcar, which […]
CHICAGO — Remarks from top railroad officials during the most recent round of earnings calls have been encouraging and analysts, without direct ties to railroads, agree. With railroads reporting its weekly performance to the Surface Transportation Board, the numbers don’t lie. As 2025 arrives, railroads have showed improvements to terminal dwell, and train speeds are […]
Welcome to a new year. As we wait to find out what 2025 has in store for us, here’s one final look at our top stories of 2024, as well as a review of previous top stories, to give this year’s events some context. Norfolk Southern ends up in the top spot for the second […]
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific has resolved the broader service problems that prompted Amtrak’s complaint about the tardy performance of the Sunset Limited in the 12 months ending on Sept. 30, 2022, the freight railroad told federal regulators this week. UP, which hosts the Sunset Limited for 1,770 miles of its 1,994-mile route between New Orleans […]
WASHINGTON — Class I railroads this week disagreed with Amtrak’s contention that its passenger trains should enjoy absolute and unlimited priority over freight trains. Amtrak, as part of its complaint over Union Pacific’s handling of the Sunset Limited, told the Surface Transportation Board earlier this year that every individual dispatching decision must result in the […]
CARSON, Calif. — No injuries were reported when four locomotives and five cars of a Union Pacific train derailed today (Monday, Dec. 23) on the Alameda Corridor route connecting UP and BNSF Railway to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The derailment occurred about 1 p.m. near the intersection of Carson and Alameda […]
DENVER — The state of Colorado will not have to pay a fee to Union Pacific to use its track for a Denver-Craig passenger train, while the railroad will no longer pay the state annually for use of the 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel under a new 25-year agreement announced today (Monday, Dec. 23, 2024). The […]
PECOS, Texas — The truck struck by a Union Pacific train in a fatal grade-crossing collision and derailment was on the grade crossing for just over 1 minute before the collision occurred, the National Transportation Safety Board said today (Dec. 22). In an update on its investigation into the Dec. 18 accident that killed two […]
Several freight rail business developments did not rank among our Top 10 stories of the year — but were still important in the grand scheme of things. They include: New Southeast-Mexico corridor CSX and Canadian Pacific Kansas City on Dec. 1 began service over the former Meridian & Bigbee short line that serves as a […]
PECOS, Texas — The Union Pacific train involved in Wednesday’s fatal derailment was going about 68 mph before beginning an emergency brake application, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement today (Friday, Dec. 20). Maximum speed on most of UP’s Toyah Subdivision, including in Pecos, is 70 mph. Two Union Pacific crew members […]
