Continuing the Trains News Wire countdown of 2020’s top stories: No. 4: The PTC deadline It was a long, expensive process, but the railroad industry has met the huge technological challenge of positive train control. When NJ Transit announced on Dec. 18 that its PTC system had been certified, it meant the last railroad considered […]
Wednesday morning rail news: Railroads granted exemption to trucking hours-of-service laws The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted railroads an exemption to the hours of service law for truck drivers. The Association of American Railroads and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association had requested the exemption for their member railroads […]
On Tuesday, Trains News Wire will begin counting down its Top 10 stories of 2020, a year marked by a wide range of stories in the realms of freight, passenger, rail transit, and preservation news. How wide? Well, 25 stories received votes in the end-of-the-year balloting among staff members and key contributing writers; excluding the […]
Another Canadian National heritage diesel has arrived in Canada. Painted in CN’s pre-1961 green-and-gold scheme, No. 7600, formerly GP38-2 No. 4728, was rebuilt to a GP40-3 by Progress Rail’s soon-to-close Tacoma, Wash., facility. It arrived in Canada Dec. 20 on CN train No. 148. Equipped for beltpack operation, the unit will eventually be mated with […]
More Monday morning rail news: Port of New Orleans approves land purchase for container expansion The Port of New Orleans board has approved the purchase of land for a second container ship terminal, a $1.5 billion project adjacent to the privately managed St. Bernard Port. NOLA.com reports the land purchase is to be completed by […]
O gauge Legacy 4-6-6T locomotive by Lionel Price: $1,099.99 Stock no.: 2031020 Features: O-31 operation, Lionel Legacy command system, Legacy and TrainMaster control, conventional or Bluetooth operation with the Lionel Universal Remote Controller or the LionChief App, can-style motor, directional lighting, rear remote-control coupler, three-speaker sound system, crew talk Low speed (Cmd): 2.11 smph Low […]
Canadian National is in the process of selling Ontario’s Algoma Central Railway, according to a published report. The Manitoulin Expositor reports the railroad has confirmed the company has initiated the sale process. “Interested parties have been contacted and the process is ongoing,” a company representative told the newspaper. “Since it’s a commercial process, we will […]
Buttigieg served for eight years as mayor of South Bend, Ind., a city of about 100,000, crisscrossed by two busy freight railroads, a stop on two Amtrak long-distance routes and the eastern terminus of a commuter train to downtown Chicago. Biden’s onetime rival for the nomination supported a project to add 16.9 miles of double […]
Additional Wednesday morning rail news: CN, partners to open logistics park in Mobile, Ala. Canadian National will join with the Alabama Export Railroad and Ray-Mont Logistics on a new logistics park in Mobile, Ala., projected to open in late 2021. The first phase of the project will be a facility for bagging and containerizing plastic […]
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Intermodal traffic will grow in 2021 but carload traffic will continue to struggle to recover from the pandemic in the new year, according to a freight forecasting firm’s outlook. Todd Tranausky, vice president of rail and intermodal at FTR Transportation Intelligence, projects that intermodal volume will grow by 5.4% next year. […]
FRA issues new rule on brake inspections The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a new rule increasing the amount of time freight equipment can be left “off-air” (stopped with the air brake system depressurized) before requiring a new brake inspection. In a press release, the agency says the rule should reduce the number of idling […]
BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, and Union Pacific all set intermodal volume records in November as imports surged, retailers continued to restock depleted inventories, and consumer spending and e-commerce remained strong. The other big Class I systems — Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Norfolk Southern — were handling intermodal volumes at near-record levels. “It’s a perfect […]
