The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency has shut down the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing – the second-busiest rail gateway to Mexico – due to the worsening migrant crisis. Union Pacific and BNSF Railway interchange with Ferromex at the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras gateway, where about 16 trains per day cross the Rio Grande, according […]
ATLANTA — As of Sept. 16, Norfolk Southern has confirmed two recent promotions in its current ranks. According to NS’ media relations department, Floyd Hudson has been appointed to a newly created position. His title: Vice president of field engagement. In this leadership role, Hudson will primarily be engaging with front-line railroaders for ideas on […]
WASHINGTON — In 1972 the annual average number of U.S. grade crossing collisions had risen to 12,000. Concerned about this tragic situation, the Idaho governor’s office, Idaho Peace Officers, and the Union Pacific Railroad launched a 6-week public awareness educational campaign called Operation Lifesaver to promote highway-railroad grade crossing safety. Idaho’s crossing-related fatalities decreased that […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Investigators report the explosion that occurred in Union Pacific’s North Platte, Neb., Bailey Yard on Sept. 14, appears to be accidental, but it’s not yet clear what caused it, according to an AP news story. At the time of the explosion the car holding the container was not moving. It was located […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators today approved Norfolk Southern’s proposed $1.62 billion acquisition of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which it has leased from the City of Cincinnati since 1881. But Cincinnati voters will have the final word: They’re scheduled to vote on the proposal on Nov. 7. The Surface Transportation Board decision also authorized NS subsidiary […]
PITTSBURGH – Wabtec has come up with a creative way to produce power at its Grove City, Pa., engine plant: It’s tapping the electricity generated during testing of the thousands of new locomotive and marine engines the factory builds each year. Wabtec tests up to 3,000 engines at the Grove City plant annually, with each […]
Minnesota steam locomotive: Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 332 DULUTH, Minn. — The continuing saga of the on-again off-again operation of Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 332 appears to be “on” again. Throughout this summer the locomotive has been under repair, with staybolts being replaced and another […]
GP15D & GP20D A rare pair of Geep diesel locomotives, the GP15D and GP20D, looked like sure winners, but sank with hardly a ripple when they hit the market in the early 2000s. Locomotive builder MotivePower, Inc., based in Boise, Idaho marketed a light road-switcher concept in the early 2000s that should have appealed to […]
Wichita Falls Railroad Museum WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Wichita Falls Railroad Museum will reopen after the Wichita Falls City Council approved a one-year lease on the Museum building, Texoma’s News reported. The museum will be managed and operated by its board of directors. The Wichita Falls Railroad Museum was founded in 1980 to establish a […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have asked Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Kansas City to provide more information regarding their ongoing dispute over CPKC trackage rights on UP between Beaumont, Texas, and the ports of Houston and Galveston. The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision posted today, also denied CPKC’s request for an expedited decision by […]
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s President López Obrador rode a passenger train from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 17 on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) railroad, a $1 billion seaport-to-seaport rail project for passenger and cargo, Mexico News Daily reported. The train included former Amtrak Amfleet cars […]
Ferromex to suspend northbound service MEXICO CITY – Ferromex has temporarily suspended operations in some areas of Mexico due to the large numbers of migrants seeking to hop freight trains to the U.S. border. The railroad announced the unusual move yesterday and said that 60 northbound trains were currently being held for safety reasons. In […]
