LOS ANGELES — Parallel Systems, the company developing battery-electric railcars that operate autonomously, will launch testing this month on two Georgia railroads, Parallel said on Monday (April 14, 2025). The company also announced it had raised an additional $38 million in funding, bringing its total to date to about $100 million. “Federal Railroad Administration approval […]
CHICAGO — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a quality-of-life agreement with the Belt Railway of Chicago, the union has announced. Through the agreement, members of the union will for the first time have pald sick days and access to the company’s 401K program. In addition to receiving up to […]
DENVER — There’s a pachyderm of a quandary haunting the executive conference rooms of Class I railroads, and short lines may be the solution. Carload volumes have been falling since 2008-2009, almost a generation’s worth of declines that began with the global financial crisis and accelerated during the fall of coal and the hollowing out […]
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky is awarding more than $3.6 million in state grants under two programs to help fund rail infrastructure projects. The grants, announced Thursday, April 10, include more than $2 million under the Kentucky Industrial Access and Safety Improvements program, which provides 50% of funding for construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of rail lines, […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern T-1 4-8-4 No. 2102 will power a Sept. 13, 2025, steam excursion through Lehigh Gorge sponsored by the Rotary Club of Mountain Top, the railroad has announced. Tickets for the excursion from the R&N’s Penobscot (Mountain Top) station to Jim Thorpe, Pa., and return will go on sale […]
DENVER — Sierra Northern Railway conducted a successful initial test of its first hydrogen locomotive, a four-axle switcher, in late March, the company announced today (April 8) at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association conference. The initial testing took place March 27 in West Sacramento, Calif. “This accomplishment marks another major milestone in […]
DENVER — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs says he is transforming the regulatory agency into a more efficient body that will help support competition and growth for railroads. “We want to break down barriers to growth, encourage competition and elevate the role of markets instead of government,” Fuchs told the American Short Line and […]
WASHINGTON — Genesee & Wyoming short line Central Oregon & Pacific can take over local operations from Union Pacific in Eugene, Ore., as soon as Saturday, federal regulators have ruled. In a unanimous decision today, the Surface Transportation Board denied the SMART-TD union’s request to scrutinize and reject the lease deal. The decision also denied […]
DENVER — Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena says his company will work through tariff shocks gripping the economy the same way it worked through the pandemic. “I can’t control what governments do,” Vena said Monday (April 7) as keynote speaker at the annual conference of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. “It’s noisy, […]
CALGARY, Alberta – Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the Lanco Group/Mi-Jack have sold the Panama Canal Railway to APM Terminals, a global terminal operator and an independent division of A.P. Moller-Maersk. The 47.6-mile railway provides ocean-to-ocean freight and passenger services along the Panama Canal and has been a 50/50 joint venture between CPKC subsidiary Kansas […]
In southwest Indiana, well-kept caboose 101 brings up the rear of a train on the Algers, Winslow & Western, a 16-mile coal-hauling short line, in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
WASHINGTON — An aggregates company’s proposal to build a 26.9-mile rail line to haul rock from four Texas quarries has run into local opposition. Texas Materials Group has asked the Surface Transportation Board to approve its plans to build and operate a new rail line in Burnet and Lampasas counties. The shortline would connect to […]
