WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has named a three-member Presidential Emergency Board to address the labor dispute between NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. Biden established the board in an executive order released Wednesday and effective today (July 25). An accompanying statement notes that appointment of the board is required under […]
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Last Saturday’s derailment of CSX railcars that damaged garages at a Fredericksburg apartment complex involved runaways, a CSX representative said at a community meeting on Wednesday, July 24. “One section of the train was tied down improperly,” CSX State Relations Director Randy Marcus told the meeting, according to a WUSA-TV report. Those […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic was again ahead of 2023 levels for the week ending July 20, 2024, with overall volume up 1.4% compared to the same week last year, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Railroads handled 480,083 carloads and intermodal units. That included 214,348 carloads, a 3.4% decrease from the […]
CONCORD, N.H. — Ownership of the Flying Yankee trainset was officially transferred from the state of New Hampshire to the Flying Yankee Association preservation group today (July 24), and the train could be moved to the Conway Scenic Railroad as soon as next week. The sale of the 1935 Budd streamliner, nearly identical to Burlington’s […]
MOBILE, Ala. — Amtrak appears to be on the verge of an agreement with the City of Mobile that finally will allow Gulf Coast passenger service to move forward. WALA-TV reports that a spokeswoman for Mayor Sandy Stimpson said the city and Amtrak had finalized language for a funding agreement for Mobile-New Orleans service and […]
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit has asked President Joe Biden to form a Presidential Emergency Board to address a potential strike or lockout involving members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, NJ.com reports, delaying any potential job action. A union official and NJ Transit spokesman both confirmed the request to NJ Advance Media. […]
DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit restored light rail service in Dallas’ central business district at midday today (July 24), beating an estimate calling for service to resume this evening. DART resumed rail service at 1 p.m., continuing the shuttle bus service that had been in place to serve six stations until 2 p.m. while […]
Second of two parts. Part one is available here. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. railroads are hiring to meet future freight demand after years of furloughs and cutbacks that only worsened during the pandemic. At the same time, railroads have grappled with steep declines in coal and macroeconomic conditions. Now railroads appear to be rebalancing headcount […]
WASHINGTON — Legislators used a House subcommittee hearing on railroad safety today (Tuesday, July 23) to highlight a new rail safety bill, while committee members and witnesses including regulators, union representatives, and the House member representing East Palestine questioned the rail industry’s own safety efforts. The revised bill, the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 8996), […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National today (Tuesday, July 23) lowered its financial outlook for the year as volume growth slowed during the second quarter, due to slumping lumber traffic and the impact of shippers diverting international intermodal containers to U.S. ports in anticipation of a potential rail strike in Canada. CN’s second-quarter operating income declined 3%, […]
MONTREAL – The busiest section of the Canadian National main line is shut down today due to a fast-moving wildfire in Jasper, Alberta. Officials ordered an evacuation of Jasper as well as visitors to Jasper National Park overnight as the fire spread and left only a westbound escape route out of town, according to Canada’s […]
PUEBLO, Colo. — MxV Rail’s Security and Emergency Response Training Center is expanding to include first responder training for incidents involving alternative fuels and electric vehicles. SERTC will begin offering the new training in November thanks to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, MxV Rail announced on Monday. SERTC recently broke ground on a […]
