MONTREAL — Janet Drysdale will become Canadian National Railway’s chief commercial officer on an interim basis, the company announced today (July 21, 2025). The appointment is effective immediately. Drysdale, who has been at CN for nearly 30 years, fills the position vacated by the departure of Remi G. Lalonde. She spent her first decade with […]
Many of us have had that moment in our lives when we dream of becoming a locomotive engineer. It’s a fascinating career, but what does it take to get there in today’s high-demand world of modern railroading? The First Step: Getting Your Foot in the Door “We get a lot of inquiries from people wanting […]
PITTSBURGH — Wabtec is marking the 10th anniversary of the delivery of its first batch of Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotives, which have gone on to become far and away the dominant new road power on Class I railroads. BNSF Railway was the first to receive the AC-traction locomotives that are designed to comply with […]
NEW YORK — The Federal Railroad Administration will conduct an independent review of operations at New York’s Penn Station to determine whether expansion of the number of station tracks is needed as part of renovation plans, Amtrak’s Andy Byford said Friday. Byford made his first public comments since being named to oversee the project at […]
BOSTON — The Trump administration has rescinded a $327 million grant awarded in 2023 or the Allston Multimodal Project, which calls for realignment of Interstate 90 and a new Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail station and layover facility, among other features. The funding termination follows President Donald Trump’s signing of a bill that eliminated […]
No railroad was better equipped to shoulder the heavy burden of wartime traffic thanks to the three types of Union Pacific steam locomotives that constituted its front line of defense: the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, arguably the most successful simple articulated ever made; the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, which easily wore the mantle “world’s largest steam locomotive”; and […]
JIM THORPE, Pa. — The impact of Reading & Northern’s passenger operations, which recently celebrated their 40th anniversary, may best be illustrated by this: A bank in Jim Thorpe — the home of R&N’s Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad tourist operation and primary destination for its weekend excursions — is closing a branch to address tourist-traffic […]
Three traffic segments have driven Class I railroad performance in 2025, according to Association of American Railroads data: intermodal, coal, and grain. Year-to-date, intermodal volume is up 5% compared to the same stretch in 2024; coal is up 6%, and grains are also up 6%. Union Pacific is moving the most coal: In the most […]
MONTREAL — Members of the union representing about 2,500 VIA Rail Canada employees have ratified a new three-year contract with the passenger operator. Unifor announced Thursday (July 17, 2025) that members of its Council 4000 and Local 100 ratified the tentative agreement reached in June [see “VIA Rail Canada, Unifor announce …,” Trains News Wire, […]
LOS ANGELES — A former Amtrak employee has been sentenced to 25 months in prison for conspiring to steal nearly $1 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits and fraudently obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California has announced. In sentencing on Thursday, July 17, 2025, […]
NEWARK, N.J. — The NJ Transit board of directors has approved the agency’s contract with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, after learning some of the key provisions of the deal. The board’s unanimous vote on Thursday, July 17, ends a years-long dispute between NJ Transit and its engineers that included a brief strike […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California High Speed Rail Authority is suing the Trump administration over its termination of $4 billion in previously awarded federal funding for the state’s high speed project. A press release from Gov. Gavin Newsom says the lawsuit alleges the Federal Railroad Administration’s termination of the funding is political retribution “motivated by […]
