CN-KCS merger would prompt final round of industry consolidation, Canadian Pacific warns (updated)

Canadian Pacific and Canadian National trains pass

WASHINGTON — If Canadian National’s rival bid to acquire Kansas City Southern succeeds, Canadian Pacific would be forced to set off the final wave of railroad consolidation by seeking a merger partner. CP provided this warning in a letter to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday, a day after CN announced that it, too, […]

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CSX maintains optimistic outlook despite first-quarter profit, revenue declines

Train crossing bridge

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s profits and revenue fell during the first quarter as merchandise and coal traffic declines offset strong intermodal growth. But executives remained optimistic about overall traffic growth this year as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic. “We entered the year projecting volume growth in excess of GDP and still expect […]

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Digest: Capitol Corridor memo expresses concern about Oakland ballpark plan

Artist's rendering of ballpark and large buildings along railroad tracks

Oakland ballpark plan creates grade crossing issues, memo says The head of the agency operating California’s Capitol Corridor Amtrak service has voiced concerns about grade-crossing issues new a proposed new ballpark for the Oakland Athletics. The Waterfront District Ballpark adjacent to Jack London Square will require stadium visitors to cross a busy Union Pacific line […]

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Digest: Canadian federal budget includes funds for VIA infrastructure projects

VIA Rail Canada logo

Canada’s federal budget includes funds for VIA high-frequency rail, other infrastructure projects Canada’s federal budget unveiled on Monday includes $4.4 million for continued planning work on VIA Rail Canada’s proposed “high frequency rail” project, which would provide a separate, passenger-only route for part of the corridor between Toronto and Quebec City. Global News reports the […]

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Canadian Pacific calls CN’s bid for KCS ‘inferior’ and ‘likely to fail’

Logos for Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific says Canadian National’s competing bid for Kansas City Southern would reduce competition, raise significant regulatory concerns, and upset competitive balance in the North American rail network. CN’s unsolicited $33.7 billion offer, announced Tuesday morning, tops the $29 billion deal CP reached last month to acquire KCS. The KCS board says […]

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Canadian National emphasizes shorter, faster routes in proposed KCS combination

Map comparing routes between Larado and Chicago/Detroit via KCS-Canadian National and KCS-Canadian Pacific

MONTREAL — Canadian National argues that its proposed combination with Kansas City Southern will offer shorter, faster, and more efficient routes than tying together the Canadian Pacific and KCS networks. And that less complicated route structure, CN contends, will enable a CN-KCS system to successfully gain north-south traffic that currently moves by truck between Mexico, the […]

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How to clean track on your garden railway

A drywall sander with a green Scotch-Brite pad next to gauge-1 track.

There are dozens of methods used to clean the rails in the garden. There are track-cleaning locomotives, track-cleaning cars, polishing wheels you can fit to the underside of a truck, blocks, poles with pads on the end—enough innovation to make a mousetrap inventor think his job is simple. These can be broken down into “manual” […]

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What’s next in the battle for Kansas City Southern?

Train with Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific locomotives passes one with Canadian Naitonal power

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last year, a pair of infrastructure funds sought to take Kansas City Southern private. Last month, Canadian Pacific struck a $29 billion deal to acquire KCS. And today Canadian National topped that with an offer worth $33.7 billion. What’s next in the battle to acquire the smallest but fastest growing Class […]

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Union Pacific to resume fare collection on Metra lines as of June 1

Passengers walking down platform after disembarking from commuter train

CHICAGO — Union Pacific will resume collecting fares on the three routes it operates for Metra on June 1 — about a year after the rest of the Metra system began doing so, and more than six months after Metra sued UP over its fare collection policies. Streetsblog Chicago reports that UP conductors began informing […]

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ScaleTrains.com HO scale CSX GE ES44ACs

Three locomotives lined up on a track

In 2019, CSX Transportation unveiled its Pride in Service locomotives, three General Electric (GE) ES44ACs painted to commemorate the service of military, first responder, and police personnel. Now, HO scale modelers can add these colorful locomotives with available dual-mode sound decoders to their fleets, thanks to ScaleTrains.com. The prototype. General Electric introduced the ES44 line […]

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