NEWARK, N.J. – NJ Transit has awarded contracts for two station renovation projects in Newark and Trenton. In Newark, the agency has approved an all-inclusive professional services contract to perform master planning, design services, and construction support services as part of a long-term project for the restoration and renovation of Newark Penn Station. NJ Transit’s […]
WASHINGTON – Railroads have not been immune to the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases across the U.S. as the more contagious Omicron variant spreads nationwide. The number of railroad employees infected with COVID-19 reached its highest point of the pandemic in the week ending Jan. 1, according to Federal Railroad Administration data released on Friday. […]
DENVER – Alpenglow Rail, a Denver-based firm specializing in investment, operating, and growing rail businesses, in partnership with Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure, will acquire Orange Rail Inc. from LJA Investments, Inc. Orange Rail is a newly constructed rail terminal in Orange, Texas, with access to Union Pacific and BNSF Railway. Orange Rail consists of a […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — David McKenna has been named president and chief executive officer of Rocky Mountaineer. McKenna began his new duties Jan. 4. McKenna has extensive experience in Canada’s tourism industry. Prior to joining Rocky Mountaineer, he was president of the Banff Jasper Collection by Pursuit where he led tourism expansion and acquisition projects […]
PERTH, Australia — Fortescue Metals Group announced today it has purchased two new battery-operated locomotives from Progress Rail to haul ore from mine to port in northwest Australia. The new eight-axle locomotives will have an energy capacity of 14.5 megawatt-hours and will be built at Progress Rail’s facility in Sete Lagoas, Brazil. Fortescue Chief Executive […]
WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific today won Amtrak’s support for its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern after CP and Amtrak reached a deal to expand passenger service in the Midwest and South. CP agreed to more frequent Amtrak service on the Hiawatha route linking Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as extending the corridor to St. Paul, […]
BNSF Railway led the big six Class I railroads in growth in 2021, a year in which rail volume rebounded from the pandemic-related lows of 2020 yet struggled to overcome kinks in the global supply chain. BNSF’s traffic was up 7.4% for the year, with intermodal surging 8.3% and coal up nearly 11%. CSX Transportation […]
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. – The adoption of precision scheduled railroading may be causing railroads to downsize their locomotive and car fleets, but freight carbuilder Greenbrier Cos. still received new orders of 6,200 units valued at $670 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2022. Car orders include intermodal, boxcars, gondolas, tank cars, covered hoppers, and automobile carriers. […]
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Adolph N. Ojard, former general manager of both the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway and the US Steel Great Lakes Fleet in Duluth, Minn., died Dec. 30 in Augusta. He was 72. While DM&IR general manager, he also served on the board of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and was instrumental […]
WASHINGTON — Karen J. Hedlund has been sworn in as the newest member of the Surface Transportation Board, the board announced, allowing the board to maintain to its full complement of five members. Hedland, confirmed by the Senate on Dec. 16, served as chief counsel and deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration from 2010 […]
The Battle for Kansas City Southern, culminating in Canadian Pacific’s triumph over Canadian National, is Trains’ top railroading story of the year. (Editor’s note: This may have seemed like a foregone conclusion, but balloting was close, with this story receiving just one more first-place vote and nine more points than the No. 2 story.) Stage […]
WASHINGTON — In a week when overall traffic dropped because of the Christmas holiday, U.S. railroads saw intermodal traffic approach 2020 levels for the first time in months. The latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads, for the week ending Dec. 25, U.S. rail traffic totaled 201,222 carloads — up 8.7% over the same […]
