CALGARY, Alberta — The $100 million Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge is officially complete. The second span across the Rio Grande— linking Laredo, Texas, with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico — doubles Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s cross-border capacity because it allows the railway to eliminate the four-hour northbound and southbound directional running windows that created bottlenecks […]
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia — A broken rail caused by an undetected fatigue flaw led to the derailment of a Canadian National train new Dunsinane, New Brunswick in October 2023, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in an investigation report released today (Tuesday, Dec. 17). Four cars derailed in the Oct. 30, 2023, incident, with […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has added four more Certified Sites to its existing list of 38 trackside shovel-ready, rail-served industrial development properties. The new sites, which were announced yesterday, include in Everett, Spokane, and Plymouth, Wash.; and Springfield, Mo. “We’re excited to announce these four new locations to our growing list of certified […]
WASHINGTON — Railroads appear to have the manpower resources they need to handle volume growth as we head into the New Year. Three of the country’s six Class I railroads have more train and engine (T&E) employees than they did a year ago, including three of the big four U.S. railroads. Amtrak also has 125 […]
WASHINGTON — GoRail, an advocacy group linking the rail industry with local leaders and the public in support of freight rail transportation, has announced a national essay contest for entrants to share how freight rail impacts their communities as part of its Rail Champions initiative. The 300- to 600-word essays, responding to the prompt “I’m […]
Sometimes successful photography depends on cultivating an eye for detail. There are train chasing days where the action seems almost endless. One train whips by only to be followed by another. Nirvana. Almost. There are also days when the weather is not cooperating. The sun is consistently in the wrong spot and as you look […]
High-horsepower, six-axle road locomotives are generally regarded to be units making between 3,800 to 4,400 hp. Over the last four decades the horsepower output has steadily grown to the high end of this range for the majority of the North American locomotives built. When this threshold was first reached with EMDs SD60 at 3,800 hp […]
NEW YORK — Energy demand is growing faster than clean energy’s ability to fulfill it. Data centers and artificial intelligence are exacerbating the issue. New liquified natural gas (LNG) exports from the U.S. could boost prices for domestic natural gas, possibly making coal more competitive for electricity generation. All of this and more has been […]
DEL MAR, Calif. — Officials and residents of the San Diego County communities of Del Mar and Solana Beach continue to object to plans to relocate the Surf Line rail route along the Pacific Coast in their communities, a $4 billion proposal that would involve tunneling under the communities to move the tracks off the […]
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — To honor fallen veterans during the holidays, a number of companies regularly partner with Wreaths Across America to deliver wreaths for placement on headstones. Among them are BNSF Railway and J.B. Hunt Transport Services. Wreaths Across America has a mission to “Remember, Honor, and Teach,” and every year since 2007 the […]
Burlington Route diesel locomotives showed a strong loyalty to Electro-Motive Division, located in the online community of LaGrange, Ill. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy was a diesel pioneer with its Zephyr passenger trains in the 1930s, and the railroad began dieselizing mainline freight trains with EMD FTs in 1943. The CB&Q continuing dieselizing with a […]
Railroaders in charge of fixed plant — often carrying the “roadmaster” title — rarely attract much fame, but a significant exception is James C. Mahon, the longtime Southern Pacific official who won some of SP’s most significant battles against nature and along the way developed legions of fans, especially in California. Mahon, known across the […]
