LOMBARD, Ill. — Attendees at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting could be excused on Wednesday if they occasionally thought they had wandered into a job fair. Attracting and retaining workers was one of the recurring themes of the first day of the two-day meeting. It’s been a huge issue for railroads, of […]
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A section of Union Pacific’s Coast Line that connects the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles remains closed to freight and passenger service following a series of winter storms that pummeled the Golden State during the first two weeks of January. Union Pacific crews are currently working to stabilize a […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — The two Class I CEOs who addressed the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers on Wednesday took different approaches to the same addressing the same concerns for the audience filling a hotel ballroom, which is to say providing assurances that railroad service is improving and will continue to do so after the rail […]
ATLANTA – The Norfolk Southern calendar is back after a two-year hiatus. The 13-month calendar features photos of trains taken by employees across the system, with winners selected by fellow railroad employees. Copies of the 2023 calendar can be ordered through the company store. […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern’s lift bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur, Ala., will be out of service for up to five days after it was struck by a vessel, the railroad said in a service advisory on Tuesday. “A bridge strike was reported at Decatur Junction on the Memphis East Division disrupting service between […]
WASHINGTON — A segment of steel angle iron protruding from a gondola car on a stopped train killed a conductor trainee and seriously injured a conductor on an oncoming Norfolk Southern train, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the Dec. 13, 2022, accident in Bessemer, Ala. The preliminary report, issued Tuesday, […]
GIRDWOOD, Alaska — Two crew members escaped without injury when an Alaska Railroad train derailed after hitting avalanche debris early Tuesday morning, Jan. 17, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The freight train from Whitter to Anchorage struck debris covering the tracks at Mile 71.5 of the Seward Highway at about 2 a.m., derailing the train’s […]
Framed by the road’s trademark color position-light signals, a Baltimore & Ohio freight passes Ashford Junction, N.Y., where B&O’s former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad lines diverge to Rochester (left) and Buffalo (right). B&O was part of Chessie System at the time of this 1970s photo. Robert E. Gabbey photo […]
WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Railroad Administration has warned Class I railroads that it will take enforcement action if they don’t make recommended improvements to their engineer and conductor training and certification programs. Administrator Amit Bose, in a Jan. 5 letter to the chief executives of the Class I systems, said the FRA […]
CHAPLIN, Saskatchewan — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is sending a team of investigators to examine a Canadian Pacific derailment that occurred early Monday morning in Chaplin, Sask., Global News reports. The derailment, shortly after midnight, involved 47 railcars and 95 containers, according to preliminary information. No hazardous materials were involved, CTV News reports; […]
One locomotive and seven cars of a Union Pacific train derailed in the Feather River Canyon in California’s Plumas County on Saturday night because of a landslide, Plumas News reports. The crew was rescued, a Union Pacific spokesman told the news site, but work continues to clear the derailed cars. The remote location of the […]
Go ahead. Let it snow. That certainly won’t stop hard-charging, modern freight trains from rolling throughout the majestic backdrop of the Mountain West region. Nor will a few flakes or even a few feet of snow keep railfan Tom Danneman and his cohorts from making their way trackside to capture dramatic, wintertime action. And for […]
