FLINT, Mich. — A single-engine aircraft made a forced landing on the double-track mainline of Canadian National Railway’s Flint Subdivision Thursday morning, April 20. The pilot, the plane’s sole occupant, was uninjured in the landing near Linden and Bristol roads west of Flint. According to Michigan State Police, the railroad was contacted to immediately shut […]
DELTA, British Columbia — The Canadian government announced Thursday it has approved a C$3.5 billion project to build a new West Coast container terminal, subject to some 370 legally binding conditions, the Globe and Mail newspaper reports. The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, which has been in development for more than a dozen years, involves […]
MONTREAL – Canadian National has launched a new sustainability tool, My Carbon Emissions, that allows customers to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of all of their loaded shipments moving on the railway. CN’s initial Carbon Calculator, the first in the industry when it debuted 13 years ago, gave customers visibility into their estimated greenhouse gas […]
Distributed power Placing locomotives at various locations within a train is nothing new, although the latest technology has improved the operation and extended the length of trains. The adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading by most Class I railroads accelerated the push to make trains longer, lowering crew starts, and improving train handling in most situations. […]
Rail labor leaders welcomed the safety advisory that the Federal Railroad Administration issued last week that encourages railroads to take steps to reduce the in-train forces that can cause long trains to derail. Railroads, meanwhile, said they were reviewing the advisory to make sure their operating practices are in line with the FRA’s recommendations. “For […]
UNCAS, Alberta — Seventeen cars of a Canadian National Railway grain train derailed early today (April 5), Global News reports. No injuries were reported. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada have been sent to the scene east of Edmonton. CN told Global News the derailment occurred about 6 a.m. near Uncas, about 22 […]
Looking for interesting uses for cabooses? If you’re of a certain age (myself included), you remember when a caboose was on the end of almost every train. Then, in the 1990s, cabooses began to disappear. Instead of a friendly wave at the end of a train, you were greeted by a blinking red light on […]
Canadian National U-class 4-8-4 locomotives proved to be the most versatile of the type operated in North America. It’s generally accepted that the ultimate in steam power was the 4-8-4 Northern type, if defined by criteria that includes speed, power, technology, and, perhaps most importantly, versatility. A lot of railroads capped off the steam […]
BRADY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Fifteen cars of a Canadian National train carrying iron ore derailed Wednesday, WTAE-TV reports. The derailment occurred about 8 a.m. Wednesday. No injuries were reported, and the railroad told the station that no hazardous materials were involved. Video footage on the station website showed cleanup in progress at the site continuing […]
CALGARY — Canadian National, logistics firm Kaptan and Montship Inc., Canada’s largest steamship agency, have announced plans for an intermodal transload facility to be built in CN’s Calgary Logistics Park. The facility, announced Monday, is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2024. It will provide a location to transload imports into 53-foot […]
Heritage locomotives Over the last few decades, railroads have rolled out dozens of specially painted locomotives. Whether they were wrapped or painted, we’re fortunate to live in an era where honoring a company’s past is so visual. We are also lucky we live in an era where paint booths are far and few between and […]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A track subgrade consisting of soft, saturated peat with poor drainage likely led to a sudden failure of that subgrade, triggering a derailment of 53 cars of a Canadian Pacific grain train near Ignace, Ontario, in May 2020, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada indicated in an accident report released Tuesday. Operating […]
