Before Donald Trump chose Ohio’s JD Vance as his candidate for vice president, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran, lawyer, and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” gained the national spotlight as one of the authors of The Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bipartisan legislation — sponsored by six U.S. Senators, three Republicans and three Democrats — […]
Former Kansas City Southern CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer — who led the cross-border railroad through turmoil over free trade, the transition to a Precision Scheduled Railroad operating model, and its historic merger with Canadian Pacific — died July 26. He was 67. “Pat’s vision and leadership played a monumental role in the great history of Kansas […]
HENDERSON, Texas — A $15 million project to rebuild a former Union Pacific branch line has been announced by the line’s owner, the Rusk County Rural Rail District, and the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority. The Henderson-Overton Branch, an approximately 15-mile line connecting its two namesake communities, has been owned by the district since […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National reopened its main line through Jasper, Alberta, this morning and began moving a backlog of traffic that had built up this week while wildfires threatened and ultimately engulfed part of the resort town. “After inspecting its infrastructure on Thursday afternoon, CN collaborated with the Unified Incident Command center to revise and […]
HAMBURG, N.Y. — The James E. Strates Shows carnival train, the last of its kind, is scheduled to run to the Erie County Fairgrounds south of Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday, Aug. 1. The train, which has been sidelined since the pandemic, is currently en route to Buffalo, N.Y., in regular merchandise service on CSX. Once […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has promoted Josh Perkes to senior vice president and chief human resources officer, reporting directly to CEO Jim Vena, effective Aug. 1. Perkes will be responsible for all human resources and labor relations functions and become a member of the company’s senior leadership team, the railroad said today. “Josh embodies […]
WASHINGTON — A Union Pacific conductor was killed at Proviso Yard earlier this month when the tank car he was riding during a shoving move struck the side of another train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report issued on Thursday, July 25. The July 6 incident at the yard in Melrose […]
ATLANTA – Operational improvements helped Norfolk Southern win back service-sensitive intermodal and automotive traffic while driving down costs and boosting the railroad’s profitability in the second quarter. “While our work continues, our second-quarter results represent an encouraging inflection point in our operating performance,” CEO Alan Shaw said on the railroad’s earnings call on Thursday afternoon. […]
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — The Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad has received 100 new coil steel cars from two manufacturers, each of which built 50 of the cars. The 48-foot, 115-ton capacity cars were built by The Greenbrier Cos. and National Steel Car, and expand the CSS car fleet to nearly 700 railcars. […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National’s main line through Jasper, Alberta — which opened briefly on Wednesday afternoon — remains shut down in the wake of a wildfire that burned at least some sections of the resort town to the ground overnight. Firefighters were unable to contain the wind-whipped wall of fire, which quickly advanced on the […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s profits rose in the second quarter despite a sharp drop in coal traffic. “When you remove coal, our total volume was up 3% in the second quarter. This demonstrates that even in a tough freight environment, we are winning with our customers to bring new business to the railroad,” CEO […]
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 […]
