ERIE, Pa. — If you’ve wondered what it looks like to paint a locomotive, Wabtec has released a short video condensing the 7-to-10-day process — requiring two-person crews working two shifts — to just over a minute and a half. The locomotive being painted in this video, incidentally, is not your run-of-the-mill diesel with your […]
Train Topic: Rail Industry
Newest section of Maya Train opens
CANCÚN, Mexico — A third section of Mexico’s tourist-focused Maya Train, a 68-kilometer (42-mile) segment between Cancún and Playa del Carmen, was inaugurated Thursday, Feb. 29, with a trip including President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, local officials, and media members. It was the final portion of the project to be launched before a March 1 […]
STB chairman rips activist investors for threatening viability of railroad industry
ATLANTA — The activist investors targeting Norfolk Southern pose a threat to the railroad industry and the U.S. economy and may prompt new regulations, outgoing Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman told a shipper conference today. Oberman was highly critical of Ancora Holdings’ proxy battle against NS, along with its efforts to replace current […]
Amid proxy battle, Norfolk Southern CEO defends railroad’s strategy and notes support from customers, regulators, and rail labor
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, who has been a punching bag for the activist investors who are trying to oust him, defended the railroad’s growth strategy at a shipper conference today. “I am fighting. I am fighting for what’s right and I am fighting for the industry,” Shaw told the Southeast Association of […]
Norfolk Southern, RapidSOS introduce new digital incident information system for first responders
NEW YORK — Norfolk Southern and RapidSOS, which provides secure data information to first responders, have unveiled a rail safety system to increase availability of critical information at significant incidents. The collaborative effort announced today will be free to public safety agencies across the U.S. It will provide access to cargo and hazardous material information, […]
Safety commission orders DC Metrorail to address certification issues for operators
WASHINGTON — The independent agency that oversees DC Metrorail safety issues says in a new report that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is allowing personnel to operate trains that do not meet the agency’s safety requirements, and has ordered WMATA to address the issue. The report issued Wednesday by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission […]
Union Pacific expands international intermodal offerings from Port Houston
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has added Dallas and Phoenix to the lanes it is serving with on-dock international intermodal service from Houston. “In cooperation with Port Houston, ocean carriers and Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCO) have access to rail service between Barbours Cut Container Terminal at Port Houston and 11 key Union Pacific-served markets. The […]
Regulators accept CN-Iowa Northern merger application, set review timeline
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today accepted Canadian National’s application to acquire short line Iowa Northern Railway, said the $230 million deal qualifies as a minor transaction, and set a schedule for a review of the merger. The STB must approve minor transactions unless it finds a merger would harm competition. CN says acquisition […]
New Orleans Public Belt awards contract for new transload facility
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad’s board of commissioners has awarded a $2.2 million contract for construction of a new transload facility. The contract was awarded on Tuesday to Cycle Construction Co. LLC for construction of the NOPB Transloading Industrial Park in New Orleans East. The $3 million project will be funded […]
Weekly U.S. rail traffic remains ahead of 2023 levels
WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 24 was again up compared to 2023, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Overall traffic was 483,656 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.7% from the same week a year ago. It was the fifth straight week volume has bettered figures from […]
Preliminary report: NS engineer was killed when locomotive was hit by rolling railcars
WASHINGTON — The Norfolk Southern engineer killed in a Jan. 31 incident in Decatur, Ala., suffered fatal injuries when his locomotive was struck by a group of 35 railcars rolling on an adjacent track, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary accident report released today (Wednesday, Feb. 28). The incident occurred about 4:15 […]
BNSF cuts shop positions, offers workers incentives to transfer to locations that are hiring
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has cut jobs from mechanical shops in Kansas and Nebraska and has offered affected workers positions at facilities where it is hiring. The railroad did not say where jobs were cut or how many positions were eliminated. But local news reports said that more than 100 positions were cut […]