MONTREAL — Quebec’s pension fund may withhold support from some members of Canadian National’s board of directors to protest the lack of French-speaking board members, Reuters reports. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec — CN’s 10th-largest shareholder — is considering the move, a source told the news service, after previously criticizing a move that […]
WASHINGTON — Host railroads and Amtrak have not presented enough information to allow the Surface Transportation Board to determine whether two daily passenger round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., would “unreasonably” impair freight operations, board chairman Martin Oberman said Thursday. Oberman made the statement as part of a wide-ranging commentary at the conclusion […]
Baldwin Centipede locomotives were an oddity of mid-century railroading that just couldn’t compete with more mundane offerings from rivals Alco or Electro-Motive. What is a Centipede? Officially, this gargantuan diesel is the Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2. That’s a mouthful. Broken down, it stood for Diesel Road, 12-axles, eight of which were connected to traction motors, with two […]
WASHINGTON – A Florida utility that is running low on coal has asked federal regulators to ensure that CSX Transportation provides adequate service to its power plant in Tampa. Tampa Electric Power Co., or TECO, says it has been forced to curtail coal-fired generation at its Big Bend Power Station because CSX has refused the […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation this week presented 65 customers with its annual Chemical Safety Excellence Award for their safe transportation of hazardous materials in 2021. The Chemical Safety Excellence Awards were presented to customers who shipped at least 600 carloads of hazardous materials with CSX during the year without a release due to controllable […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — Legislators in New York state have introduced bills requiring two-person crews for most freight operations in the state. Senate bill S3953, introduced by Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy (D-Buffalo), would require two-person crews for Class I and Class II railroads, except for those engaged in switching, and specifies penalties beginning at $250 to […]
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — The Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC), a 106-mile-long regional carrier connecting Indianapolis with Louisville, Ky., has acquired a Louisville-area short line, the defunct 5.5-mile-long Southern Indiana Railway (SIND). One of several railroads owned by the Chicago-based Anacostia Rail Holdings Co., LIRC operates from a yard and maintenance shop here. It will […]
WASHINGTON — Members of a key congressional committee on Wednesday expressed frustration with widespread railroad service problems and the Surface Transportation Board’s response. “The facts are undeniable. Freight service in the United States of America … is abysmal,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. DeFazio said […]
BEVERLY, Mass. – A passenger who fell asleep and missed his station has sued commuter-train operator Keolis, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He injured an arm while trying to leave the train in a storage yard, according to the suit. Filing the action in Salem Superior Court last week was […]
WASHINGTON – For the week ended May 7, U.S. rail traffic registered 504,927 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.5% decline over the same period in 2021. Figures from the Association of American Railroads show the total number of carloads at 231,737, down 1.9% over the same week in 2021, while intermodal volume was 273,190 containers […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom is deadlocked in a dispute with Democratic colleagues in the state House over the next steps in the future of the state’s $105 billion high speed rail project, according to CalMatters, an online, nonprofit news agency that covers public policy in the Golden State. The California High-Speed Rail […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has criticized Canadian National Railway Co. for maintaining an English-speaking-only board of directors in a bilingual nation where 7.9 million citizens – 22% of the population – speak French as their first language. “It’s unacceptable that the board of directors does not have a francophone representative on […]
