NORFOLK, Va. — With intermodal and some merchandise volume turning positive in the fourth quarter, Norfolk Southern expects continued traffic growth this year as the economy recovers from the pandemic. NS expects revenue growth of about 9% this year, led by high single-digit growth in intermodal and merchandise volume excluding energy-related traffic. Coal volume will […]
Wednesday morning rail news: Transportation Safety Board of Canada issues report on 2018 CN yard death Failure to fully secure two unattended cars and ice contamination of those cars’ brakes led to a fatal accident in 2018 at Canadian National’s yard in Edmundston, New Brunswick, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada says in a report issued […]
WASHINGTON —Amtrak CEO William Flynn has outlined his company’s “top five priorities that we ask Congress to address” in a letter sent to legislators last week. The letter, released by Amtrak, says those priorities are: — Emergency funding: $1.541 billion of COVID relief this year “to sustain and restore operations and recall employees” through September 30 […]
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Winchester & Western, the 100-mile short line with trackage in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, was able to grow last year despite the pandemic. Traffic on the railroad, which short line holding company OmniTRAX acquired in September 2019, was up a shade over 9% last year. That was below railroad […]
P42DC No. 46 leads the westbound Capitol Limited out of Toledo on Jan. 21, displaying markings commemorating Amtrak’s 50th anniversary, which arrives in May. The locomotive was reportedly going to lead an Inauguration special for Joe Biden, the 46th president, but that was cancelled for security reasons following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. This edition […]
MONTREAL — After increasing momentum in the fourth quarter, Canadian National today expressed optimism for volume recovery in 2021 as intermodal, grain, and some carload segments are seeing strong growth. CN expects volume to grow by around 5% in 2021 amid record Canadian grain tonnage, demand for lumber and propane, and international and domestic intermodal gains […]
More Tuesday morning rail news: OmniTRAX names Piacente as new CEO Short line and transportation company OmniTRAX has named Dean Piacente as its new CEO, effective Feb. 1. Piacente has more than 20 years’ experience as a commercial executive at CSX Transportation, and brings more than 30 years of financial planning, analysis, and expertise in […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak and Metra have filed briefs with the Surface Transportation Board on the remaining issues in their long-running dispute over Metra’s lease at Amtrak-owned Chicago Union Station, with Amtrak asking the board to decide the remaining areas of disagreement so appropriate compensation can be decided, while Metra suggests the disagreements can still be […]
Tuesday morning rail news: South Shore to lease cars from Metra to handle planned service increase The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District will lease 26 bilevel gallery cars from Metra to handle the increased South Shore Line commuter service planned under the Double Track and West Lake Corridor expansion projects. The Times of Northwest Indiana […]
NILES, Mich. – The new Siemens Venture cars for Amtrak Midwest service made their first test run on Monday, operating from Chicago to Pontiac, Mich., on the schedule of Wolverine Service train No. 350, suspended since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trainset, with four of the new coaches separated by former heritage sleeper […]
NEWARK, N.J. — “It’s NJ Transit’s 3rd summer of hell,” read an August 2019 headline on NJ.com, a New Jersey local news website. For years, commuters endured overcrowded trains, late trains, canceled trains, and creaky 40-year-old Arrow III electric multiple-unit cars. Frustration reached a boiling point, with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy feeling the heat. […]
Still more Monday morning rail news: New agreement allows BNSF Bismarck bridge project to move forward without final decision on current bridge BNSF Railway’s long-running effort to replace its 138-year-old Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge over the Missouri River can continue to move forward after a new agreement between the railroad, the U.S. Coast Guard, and […]
