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 […]
Magazine: Trains Magazine
LIRR makes schedule changes to allow track work
NEW YORK — Trains will be replaced by buses on the eastern portion of the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma Branch on weekdays beginning Monday, March 4, the most significant of a series of schedule changes to allow for track work throughout the LIRR system. A number of other changes, involving new trains, new start […]
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 […]
Major reconstruction project to halt light rail service to downtown Denver
DENVER — Light rail service in downtown Denver will be halted from late May through September as part of a four-phase, $152 million project to rebuild much of the infrastructure dating to the opening of the light rail system in 1994, the Regional Transportation District announced Wednesday. The closure of the downtown loop will begin […]
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 […]
Beech Mountain Railroad shuts down
ALEXANDER, W.Va — West Virginia’s Beech Mountain Railroad appears to have reached its final chapter. Owner Carter-Roag, a subsidiary of United Coal, has returned its two leased SW1500s to LTEX (also known as Larry’s Truck & Electric); those engines had been brought in to move the stockpile of coal remaining after the closure of Carter-Roag’s […]