ORLANDO, Fla. — Businesses who would have been bypassed by Brightline’s original route between Orlando International Airport and Disney World have pledged $125 million toward a project which would serve them through a joint route used by both Brightline and commuter operator SunRail. Accounts of the meeting were provided in a paywalled Orlando Sentinel report […]
CHICAGO — Herman E. Crosson, a veteran safety official for short line and Class I railroads, will be come chief safety and compliance officer at Anacostia Rail Holdings Co., effective May 9, the company has announced. Crosson succeeds the retiring Thomas A. Leopold, who has been with Anacostia since 2006 and will continue to serve […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Comet Industries, which specializes in sales of new and reconditioned freight car parts, will acquire Seneca Railroad and Mining of Bellevue, Ohio, which manufactures insulated rail joints, rubber plates, and pads used for railroad crossings, turnouts and switches. “We are pleased to add the Seneca team and their offers to our […]
EMD DDA40X: In 1968, Union Pacific purchased 50 20-cylinder, 3,600 hp EMD SD45s for high-speed service. However, the units did not meet management’s expectations in that role. So, UP commissioned EMD to design and build a locomotive that would develop more horsepower than the DD35, U50, or C855 models. The result was the largest double-diesel […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Freight rail firm Cathcart Rail has signed an agreement to purchase the railcar repair business of The Andersons, Inc. The purchase is expected to close this summer. “The Andersons railcar repair network aligns perfectly with Cathcart Rail’s strategic goal of offering a broad array of rail services across a national footprint, we […]
Between the years 1976 and 1999, Conrail business trains operated for three purposes: to enable railroad executives to travel the right-of-way for close track inspection, to look at rail facilities, and to entertain customers over Conrail lines to improve business potential and customer service. This nearly all-color, very well done 416-page, four-pound volume covers the […]
SAN DIEGO – Union Pacific and autonomous trucking company TuSimple have delayed plans to begin driverless truck moves between the railroad’s Tucson intermodal terminal and the Phoenix area. The companies in February said they’d launch the service this spring. But the service has been pushed to the third quarter because TuSimple and UP have shifted […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern President Alan Shaw spent his first two days as CEO visiting railroaders across the system and vowing to restore service to normal levels. On Sunday, when he added chief executive to his title as president, Shaw headed to DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent time in the main tower, […]
The St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad was a survivor and an innovator. It weathered some very rough times, including at least five bankruptcies. It started running unit coal trains from Fort Smith, Ark., the city across the Arkansas River from my hometown of Van Buren, in the 1930s. It helped move Texas and Oklahoma oil east […]
Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires retired over the weekend, passing the baton to new NS President Alan Shaw effective May 1. Squires, who became chief executive in 2015, had an eventful tenure at the helm. Under Squires’ watch, NS fended off unwanted merger advances from Canadian Pacific, pared its Triple Crown RoadRailer service amid the […]
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Brightline and the Florida Department of Transportation will seek a $25 million federal grant to help fund a $45 million project to address ongoing grade-crossing accidents along the passenger operator’s route in South Florida. The Palm Beach Post reports in a paywalled article that the project would make improvements at […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Railroad union members, who have been increasingly vocal about working conditions and the lack of a new contract, protested Saturday at the annual meeting of BNSF Railway parent Berkshire Hathaway, picketing and handing out leaflets outside the meeting site. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has also taken out ads in […]
