New bypass route set to open near Seattle Dec. 15 NEWSWIRE

PtDefprojectmap

A map for the Point Defiance, Wash., bypass project. Washington State Department of Transportation SEATTLE — The end of 2017 is bringing some significant changes to rail passenger traffic on the busy Interstate 5 corridor between Portland and Seattle. After nearly a decade of studies and construction, the $181.2 million dollar Point Defiance Bypass Route […]

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Expensive questions surface with changed passenger car order

SiemensCalifornia

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Half-a-billion dollars in unanswered questions remain now that California officials are working with a new builder on a floundering, years-old passenger car order. California Department of Transportation — Caltrans — officials say in a Wednesday news release that German railroad equipment manufacturer Siemens will build 137 single-level coaches in its Sacramento shops […]

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Last logging railroad in North America falls NEWSWIRE

WossBC

Woss, British Columbia Google Maps WOSS, British Columbia — Western Forest Products announced Tuesday that Vancouver Island’s Englewood Railway, the last logging railroad in North America, is closed for good. The decision to close the logging railroad on the north end of Vancouver Island comes six months after three Englewood employees were killed when a […]

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CSX to run repainted F unit for annual ‘Santa Train’

FlanaryRonCRR800FrontThreeQuarter

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Children and railfans waiting along the route of CSX’s Santa Train this year will get an extra treat from Santa Claus — an original Clinchfield Railroad F unit in new paint pulling the trainload of cheer. CSX Transportation unveiled the cosmetically restored Clinchfield F3 No. 800 in yellow and gray at its […]

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How CSX uses block-swapping to replace Ohio sorting terminal NEWSWIRE

csxtomorrow

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is increasingly relying on block-swapping intermodal traffic as it prepares to shut down its massive container-sorting hub in North Baltimore, Ohio, which last year handled more than a quarter of the railroad’s intermodal loads. The Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal was designed to support CSX’s hub-and-spoke approach to serving smaller intermodal […]

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New CSX strategy dooms Ohio and North Carolina terminals NEWSWIRE

Harrison

A 2011 CSX Transportation video touting North Baltimore’s place in intermodal strategy. Via YouTube. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The days of CSX Transportation’s hub-and-spoke intermodal strategy are drawing to a close. The railroad aims to end container sorting at its busy intermodal terminal in North Baltimore, Ohio, by Nov. 11. And CSX will not build the […]

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Maryland wants explanation for CSX Howard Street Tunnel decision

csxtomorrow

WASHINGTON — Maryland’s entire congressional delegation has written to CSX Transportation CEO E. Hunter Harrison, asking him to explain the railroad’s decision to drop out of a partnership to raise clearances in the Howard Street Tunnel. On Nov. 1, in response to media inquiries, CSX confirmed that it no longer considered the long-sought tunnel project […]

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Tracking train lengths

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Controls for measuring the length of a train (circled) are integrated into the touch screen Video Information Display on an EMD SD70ACe. Tom Danneman Q If an engineer has a train with 100 or more cars and he gets a signal to take the siding, how does he know when he and all the cars […]

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Trains Presents: Butler, Ind., hot spot

Norfolk Southern diesel locomotive

Join Trains Presents video contributor Chris Wehman for a look at Norfolk Southern’s busy junction at Butler, Ind., northeast of Fort Wayne. There, the former Conrail Cleveland to Chicago main crosses the former Norfolk & Western Detroit to Fort Wayne line. You’ll see trains at all angles, including the Triple Crown RoadRailer! […]

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