International rail safety conference held

Clad in orange safety vests lettered for the United Kingdom's Network Rail system and standing next to a rail line, seminar participants listen to a presentation

Railroads around the world might look and operate differently, but the challenges of keeping the public safe around passenger platforms and at grade crossings (called level crossings outside of North America) are more or less the same everywhere. No one knows these challenges better than the international community of railroad officials from industry, government, and […]

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Amtrak to provide live stream of upcoming board meeting

Amtrak logo.

WASHINGTON — Amtrak will live stream an upcoming board of directors meeting, set for Thursday, July 31, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET, the company has announced. Those wishing to view the meeting must register in advance on Zoom. There will be no in-person attendance or public question-and-answer session. The company says expected topics […]

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CPKC says local service continues to improve on former KCS

Two red locomotives and one blue locomotive on freight train with grain silo in background

WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City says its service continues to improve in former Kansas City Southern territory, where a May 3 computer system cutover led to congestion, delays, and missed switches. Local service performance on the former KCS rose to 88% in the week ending June 27, CPKC said in an update to the […]

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Coos Bay intermodal port project receives $100 million in state backing

Map of Oregon port project

COOS BAY, Ore. — The Oregon legislature has approved $100 million in funding for the Port of Coos Bay project to develop a new ship-to-rail container terminal, the port announced this week. The Pacific Coast Intermodal Port would see containers loaded directly from ships on to trains, which would then move via the port’s Coos […]

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Norfolk Southern donates to West Virginia flood relief

Norfolk Southern logo

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has donated $25,000 to support recovery efforts from June 14 flash flooding in West Virginia. The July 1 donation to the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley will support the foundation’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund, assisting nonprofit organizations involved in relief efforts, including supporting individuals affected. A storm brought 4 […]

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Reading & Northern promotes passenger department’s Knadler

Man in cab of black F unit with gray and red trim

PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Jeff Knadler has been promoted to assistant vice president-passenger at the Reading & Northern, the railroad has announced. Knadler, who started with the R&N as a freight conductor in 2007 and advanced to designated supervisor of locomotive engineers, has most recently served as senior director of the passenger department. In that […]

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U.S rail traffic down narrowly for week ending June 28

Weekly table showing U.S. carload rail traffic by commodity type, plus overall intermodal volume

WASHINGTON — By a tiny margin, U.S. weekly rail traffic was back below 2024 levels for the week ending June 28, 2025. According to the Association of American Railroads, traffic for the week was 491,424 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.2% from the same week a year ago. That included 225,227 carloads, up 0.05%, and […]

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Wabtec completes acquisition of Evident’s Inspection Technologies division

Man with inspection device checking rail

PITTSBURGH — Wabtec has completed its $1.78 billion acquisition of the Inspection Technologies division of Evident Scientific, the company announced this week. The acquisition of the company, which makes nondestructive testing, remote visual inspection, and analytical instrument products, was announced earlier this year [see “Wabtec to acquire …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 14, 2025]. “Today, […]

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NTSB releases report on Union Pacific conductor fatality

Aerial view of scene of fatal accident at Chicago-area rail yard

WASHINGTON — The probable cause of a July 2024 fatal collision at Union Pacific’s Proviso Yard was an inexperienced conductor’s failure to alert the engineer to stop the train at a designated point during a shove move in unfamiliar territory, the National Transportation Safety Board said today (July 2, 2025). The conductor — who was […]

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STB turns down Metra request for injunction in dispute with UP (updated)

Commuter train on curve with multistory buildings in background

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has denied Metra’s request for a temporary injunction or emergency service order protecting commuter operations on three Union Pacific lines in the Chicago area, saying Metra has not shown the situation meets “the standard required for either avenue of relief.” The five-page ruling was made Tuesday, July 1, but […]

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CSX nears halfway mark of Howard Street Tunnel clearance project

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX and its contractors are nearly to the halfway mark of the Howard Street Tunnel clearance project in Baltimore. In a video update on Tuesday, July 1, CSX said crews have safely lowered 3,400 feet of the flooring in the 8,700-foot former Baltimore & Ohio tunnel beneath downtown Baltimore. The tunnel, which […]

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CPKC hydrogen locomotive visits Illinois (updated)

Red and green locomotive

BENSENVILLE, Ill. — Appearing far afield of the usual home of the railroad’s hydrogen locomotive testing program in Alberta and British Columbia, CPKC hydrogen H20EL No. 1002, a former GP38-2, is in the locomotive consist of train No. 146 as it approaches Bensenville from Calgary on July 1, 2025. The locomotive, one of three developed […]

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