Additional Friday morning rail news: NTSB releases initial report on October CSX employee death at Richmond’s Acca Yard A CSX employee killed in an October accident in Richmond, Va., died when the train he was operating by remote control struck three standing cars on an adjacent track, according to a preliminary report from the National […]
More Friday morning rail news: Amtrak test trains to run on Point Defiance Bypass Jan. 16-17 Amtrak will begin running test trains on Jan. 16-17 in preparation for the start of service on Washington state’s Point Defiance Bypass, idle for more than three years after a fatal derailment of the first Amtrak train to use […]
Friday morning rail news: Federal grant will allow construction to begin on South Shore double track project The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District has received a $173 million federal grant for its Double Track project, which will add a second main for South Shore Line commuter service between Gary and Michigan City, Ind. The 26.6-mile […]
MIAMI — Although a planned private activity bond sale to help finance Brightline’s proposed Southern California-Las Vegas, Nev., route has been delayed, long-term investors weren’t deterred from snapping up $950 million in the company’s Florida bond offering just before Christmas. The bond sale for the western project — and the project itself — have been […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has resigned, effective Monday, Jan. 11, in the wake of Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol, which she calls “a traumatic and entirely avoidable event” in a letter addressed to Department of Transportation colleagues. “It has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.” […]
Thursday morning rail news: TSB of Canada begins investigation after worker dies at CN yard in Montreal The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has begun an investigation after a Canadian National employee died Wednesday in an accident at the railroad’s Pointe-St-Charles yard in Montreal. CTV News reports the accident occurred about 12:50 p.m., and that […]
WASHINGTON — Thanks to continued intermodal strength, overall U.S. Class I rail traffic in December increased by 4.4% over December 2019, with a total of 2,435,819 carloads and intermodal units, according to statistics released by the Association of American Railroads. The 1,101,324 carloads in the month represented a decrease of 3.7%, while the 1,334,495 containers […]
More Thursday morning rail news: Bill funding major MBTA projects goes to Massachusetts governor A late-night compromise allowed Massachusetts legislators to pass a $16.5 billion transportation bond bill which would fund several major rail projects. State House News Service reports the bill sent to Gov. Charlie Baker includes funding for a connector for the Massachusetts […]
Still more Wednesday morning rail news: Fifteen cars of UP train derail in Oregon Fifteen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed early Wednesday in Clackamas County, Ore., leading to a brief closure of State Route 99, KGW-TV reports. The Clackamas County Sheriff reports no hazardous materials were involved in the incident about 15 miles […]
More Wednesday morning rail news: MBTA plans one-week furloughs for executives, union members to help address budget shortfall The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is planning one-week furloughs for some executives and union members as part of its effort to address the budget shortfall created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Boston Herald reports that MBTA General […]
Wednesday morning rail news: Lineage buys refrigerator car firm Cyro-Trans in $500 million deal Cold-storage specialist Lineage Logistics announced it is purchasing Cryo-Trans, which has more than 2,200 refrigerated and insulated railcars, North America’s largest privately owned fleet, and manages more than 40,000 annual rail shipments. Lineage, a real estate investment trust based in Novi., […]
ATLANTA — The pandemic hurt railroad traffic across the board, but none more than Norfolk Southern. NS volume for 2020 was down nearly 12%, which was twice as much as Eastern rival CSX Transportation and considerably deeper than the industry average of a 7% decline [see “Canadian Pacific leads industry volume for second straight year,” Trains News Wire, […]
