ROANOKE, Va. — A major railcar manufacturer says it will close a historic plant in Virginia and eliminate of hundreds of jobs. FreightCar America says it plans to close its car manufacturing plant in the former Norfolk & Western East End Shops this fall. The company, according to a Roanoke Times news report, plans to […]
Magazine: Trains Magazine
GATX CEO: North American rail market is uncertain; Europe, India are bright spots NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — The North American railcar market is risky, officials of leasing company GATX say, while opportunities are booming in Europe and India. GATX, with 119,500 railcars and 644 four-axle diesel locomotives in its North American fleet, saw increased North American profits for the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018 […]
NTSB: Human error, inattention to safety risks led to 2018 ‘Silver Star’ crash NEWSWIRE
New York to Miami Silver Star train No. 91 was operating on track warrants and verbal communication with CSX Transportation dispatchers when it crashed into a parked CSX autorack train about 2:27 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2018, at Cayce, S.C. Jonathan Hinely WASHINGTON — Human error combined with inadequate attention to safety risk led to […]
New York railroad looking for funds to put 2-8-0 back in service NEWSWIRE
Arcade & Attica Railroad 2-8-0 No. 18 in its current state. The wheels were being removed for bearing box construction which will give its wheels and axles longer lifespans. Pat Connors ERIE, Pa. — When steam debuted on the Arcade & Attica Railroad in 1962 it was a big deal. A small New York railroad […]
Ottawa light rail line ‘essentially complete,’ contractor says NEWSWIRE
OTTAWA, Ontario — More than a year after its original handoff date, the consortium building Ottawa’s Confederation Line light rail project says, for the second time, that the line is “essentially complete” and ready to hand over for operation. The notice from the Rideau Transportation Group means the city has five days to provide its […]
GATX: Precision Scheduled Railroading dampening demand for freight cars NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — Some portions of the North American railcar fleet of transportation leasing company GATX are being idled due to Precision Scheduled Railroading. PSR, which most Class I systems and certain short lines are using to maximize productivity of assets, is among the reasons utilization of GATX boxcars dropped in the second quarter of 2019 […]
Railroad Performance Measures website goes dark NEWSWIRE
Railroad Performance Measures website home page WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads pulled the plug on the Railroad Performance Measures website this month, saying it has outlived its usefulness. The railroadpm.org website — which reported weekly Class I figures for terminal dwell, average train speed, and cars online — was an outgrowth of the […]
Regulators approve new rail line to serve South Carolina auto plant (updated) NEWSWIRE
Short line Palmetto Railways, owned by the state of South Carolina, will build a 28-mile branch that will connect the new Volvo assembly plant in Ridgeville, S.C., to a CSX Transportation main line. Palmetto Railways WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have approved the construction of a 28-mile rail line that will serve Volvo’s new assembly plant […]
BNSF Railway is high and dry after recent Midwest flooding NEWSWIRE
Midwest flooding map BNSF Railway OMAHA, Neb. — Plagued with weather-caused outages since mid-March, BNSF Railway reports all service is restored. Operations were slated to resume over the July 20 to 21 weekend on the 80-mile Napier Subdivision, along the Missouri River from near Omaha to near St. Joseph, Mo. It was BNSF’s hardest hit […]
Caltrain announces business plan through 2040; plans on tripling ridership NEWSWIRE
SAN JOSE, Calif. — After more than a year of staff work and public meetings along the San Francisco Peninsula, Caltrain today released a draft business plan for its next two decades calling for up to $25 billion in capital investments to triple its ridership to more than 180,000 passengers per weekday. The plan, which […]
CN, CP to argue Chicago interchange dispute before federal regulators NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has ordered Canadian National and Canadian Pacific to participate in oral arguments next month to settle their simmering dispute over the location of their interchange in Chicago. In a decision late Friday, the board directed CN and CP to participate in an Aug. 6 oral argument in Washington. The […]
Costly new safety rules could sideline British heritage railways NEWSWIRE
LONDON — Britain’s heritage railroads face massive costs, or the possibility of being shut down, in the wake of stringent new safety regulations resulting from the death of a passenger in 2016. The Telegraph reports that heritage railways must place bars over the drop-down windows of their coaches to prevent passengers from leaning out to […]
