Union Pacific appears to be using a familiar playbook that large, publicly traded companies trot out when considering mergers and acquisitions: Send up trial balloons and see how they fly. These trial balloons let management gauge market reaction, political sentiment, and how the media might spin the story, all without committing to a deal. They […]
WASHINGTON — The death of a CSX conductor trainee in a June 2023 incident in Baltimore is an indication of broader safety and training gaps in the rail industry, the National Transportation Safety Board said in releasing its final investigation report today (July 17, 2025). In the June 26, 2023, incident, an individual in phase […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s merger-related traffic grew 18.8% during the six-month period covered in its latest report to federal regulators. The July 15 report, which is required as part of the STB’s ongoing monitoring of the merger, covers the period from Nov. 1, 2024, through April 30 and compares traffic levels to the […]
Union Pacific is working with Morgan Stanley investment bankers to provide guidance on the potential acquisition of another Class I railroad, the online publication Semafor reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. UP and Morgan Stanley declined to comment to the media outlet. CSX and Norfolk Southern stock prices surged on the news, […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday (July 15) announced some $488 million in grants under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grant program. While 77% of the funding is for road and bridge projects, two projects totaling $3.2 million are designated as rail projects and at least two others […]
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s Railroad Board has terminated its lease agreement with the Dakota Southern Railway on a section of state-owned track for failure to make an annual payment. KELO-TV reports the railroad board terminated the lease on the state-owned Napa-Platte line in the southeastern portion of the state, where Dakota Southern stored railcars. […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy faced bipartisan grilling Wednesday questioning the slow pace of his department’s release of funding for already-approved infrastructure grants, as well as the reduction of Department of Transportation personnel to approve them. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, “Oversight of the Department of Transportation’s Policies and Programs and […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has terminated some $4 billion in federal funding awarded to but not spent by California’s high speed rail program, following through on a longstanding goal of the Trump administration. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the move “illegal” and vowed to fight the decision. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in […]
WASHINGTON — A Fairfield Southern Co. employee involved in remote-control switching died from injuries suffered when he struck a railcar on an adjacent track, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the June 16, 2025, accident issued today (July 16, 2025). During switching work at the U.S. Steel Flintridge Yard in […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX and BNSF Railway recently completed the Florida National Guard’s largest rail deployment since World War II. CSX originated 10 unit trains that carried 1,265 military vehicles, containers, and systems that were loaded at Fort Stewart, Ga., and transported to Birmingham, Ala., for interchange with BNSF, which then operated the trains to […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway and Union Pacific settled their Salt Lake City trackage rights dispute yesterday prior to a scheduled meeting with federal regulators. The deal allowed BNSF to begin international intermodal service between Southern California ports and a new intermodal terminal on Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railway. In a filing posted on the […]
MIAMI — Brightline trains have hit and killed more than 180 people since the passenger service began operation in South Florida — a higher toll than had been publicly recognized, the Miami Herald and public broadcaster WLRN report in a joint investigation that also looks at causes of the deaths and a lack of safeguards […]
