WASHINGTON — Host railroads and Amtrak have not presented enough information to allow the Surface Transportation Board to determine whether two daily passenger round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., would “unreasonably” impair freight operations, board chairman Martin Oberman said Thursday. Oberman made the statement as part of a wide-ranging commentary at the conclusion […]
WASHINGTON – A Florida utility that is running low on coal has asked federal regulators to ensure that CSX Transportation provides adequate service to its power plant in Tampa. Tampa Electric Power Co., or TECO, says it has been forced to curtail coal-fired generation at its Big Bend Power Station because CSX has refused the […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation this week presented 65 customers with its annual Chemical Safety Excellence Award for their safe transportation of hazardous materials in 2021. The Chemical Safety Excellence Awards were presented to customers who shipped at least 600 carloads of hazardous materials with CSX during the year without a release due to controllable […]
MAD RIVER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — No injuries were reported when a Norfolk Southern train derailed Thursday evening southwest of Springfield, Ohio. NS reports preliminary information indicates 20 cars are involved. Crews were on hand as of Thursday night to begin rerailing equipment and clearing the scene, with additional support en route. Firefighters responded to a […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — Legislators in New York state have introduced bills requiring two-person crews for most freight operations in the state. Senate bill S3953, introduced by Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy (D-Buffalo), would require two-person crews for Class I and Class II railroads, except for those engaged in switching, and specifies penalties beginning at $250 to […]
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — The Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC), a 106-mile-long regional carrier connecting Indianapolis with Louisville, Ky., has acquired a Louisville-area short line, the defunct 5.5-mile-long Southern Indiana Railway (SIND). One of several railroads owned by the Chicago-based Anacostia Rail Holdings Co., LIRC operates from a yard and maintenance shop here. It will […]
WASHINGTON — Members of a key congressional committee on Wednesday expressed frustration with widespread railroad service problems and the Surface Transportation Board’s response. “The facts are undeniable. Freight service in the United States of America … is abysmal,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. DeFazio said […]
KANSAS CITY — Canadian Pacific should file updated traffic data with the Surface Transportation Board pertaining to its planned merger with Kansas City Southern well ahead of a May 27 deadline, John Brooks, CP vice president and chief marketing officer, told the North American Rail Shippers conference on Wednesday. The STB requested updated baseline traffic […]
KANSAS CITY — Service and labor issues are generally the defining issues for current public appearances by railroad officials, and so it was Tuesday when BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer spoke to the North American Rail Shippers conference. Less than two weeks after officials from BNSF and other Class I railroads were called to testify […]
WASHINGTON — Cross-examination of Jim Blair, Amtrak’s senior director of host railroads, consumed the full 8-hour, 28-minute session Monday as the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on the effort to launch passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., resumed after an almost three-week hiatus. Blair was questioned by lawyers from Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and […]
KANSAS CITY — The 40 or so union rail employees picketing outside the site of the National Rail Shippers Conference, unhappy over their lack of a new national contract, might have been surprised by the message delivered inside by CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote. They might have welcomed it, too, if not for the adversarial […]
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Two construction barges broke loose on the flood-swollen Potomac River, with one of them striking the 1904 Norfolk Southern deck truss bridge here before hanging up further east. Both runaway vessels were engaged in work at a section of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park to the north along the […]
