With their Powder River Basin coal volumes down by more than 22% this year — and 58% below the peak of 2008 — is it time for BNSF Railway and Union Pacific to consider rationalizing capacity on their primary coal-hauling routes? Not yet, the railroads say. In the heart of the Wyoming coal fields, BNSF […]
SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, France — Alstom has completed the sale of its North American signal business to German’s Knorr-Bremse, the French firm announced Monday, Sept. 2. The sale, for approximately $690 million, had been announced in April [see “Alstom sells North American signal business …,” Trains News Wire, April 19, 2024]. It covers the conventional portion of […]
POLLEGGIO, Switzerland — More than a year after a freight train derailment inflicted extensive damage, the Gotthard Base Tunnel — the world’s longest rail tunnel — fully resumed regular operations today, ending an extensive, and expensive, period of repairs and reroutes for one of Europe’s main north-south rail arteries. For the first time since August […]
Back for the first time in a while, here’s some weekend recommended reading — rail news and features from various media outlets: — The website Urban Milwaukee reports on an ambitious/unrealistic (take your pick) proposal for a privately developed commuter rail system that would serve 32 stations in a five-county area around Milwaukee, using existing […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation announced on Friday, Aug. 30, that it had reached five-year tentative labor agreements with two more unions. That increases its total to agreements with 11 unions covering 15 work groups and amending 20 collective agreements, CSX said, covering more than 50% of its unionized workforce. The latest agreements are with […]
LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Sound Transit opened the latest piece of its light rail network on Friday, an 8.5-mile, four-station addition that extends the 1 Line north into Snohomish County and to Lynnwood for the first time. In addition to the Lynnwood City Center station, the new extension includes a station at Mountlake Terrace and two […]
BRANSON, Mo. — American Heritage Railways, owner of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and other properties, has acquired the Branson Scenic Railway, the tourist rail operation launched in 1993 on a former Missouri Pacific route. The new owners will take over operations this Sunday, Sept. 1. The purchase was prompted by the current […]
CSX Transportation said it was considering its options after a U.S. appeals court refused to restart its lawsuit against competitor Norfolk Southern over access to a key Virginia container port, causing it hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The allegations fell outside the four-year window for filing claims under U.S. antitrust law, a three-judge […]
Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway have reached tentative five-year contract agreements with additional unions four months before the opening round of national collective bargaining. The Norfolk Southern agreements with five unions, coming on the heels of four tentative agreements announced last week, cover approximately 55% of the railroad’s unionized workforce. The most recent agreements announced […]
MONTREAL — The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is refusing to take no for an answer. The union, which represents 9,300 locomotive engineers and conductors on Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, has filed appeals challenging the decisions that led to binding arbitration being imposed on their failed contract talks with the railways. The union […]
BARSTOW, Calif. — The federal government is seeking comment on a proposed sale of land to BNSF Railway as part of the railroad’s planned Barstow International Gateway project. The Victorville Daily Press reports the Bureau of Land Management published a Notice of Realty Action in the Federal Register on Wednesday, Aug. 28, on the proposed […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority eliminated six speed restrictions as a result of its latest major track project, a suspension of service between the Red Line’s JFK/UMass and Kendall/MIT stations Aug. 19-26. Plans were to address five slow orders, but a sixth identified during the service suspension was also taken care of. “We […]
