WASHINGTON — The freight railroads involved in the Surface Transportation Board’s proceeding over Gulf Coast passenger service have again asked that the matter be sent to mediation — and Amtrak is again opposing that request. In a May 19 filing, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority and its its short line […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic remains below 2021 levels on a weekly and year-to-date basis according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Figures for the week ending May 21 show overall traffic of 506,976 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.1% from the corresponding week a year earlier. That figure includes 233,244 […]
An Alco FA-FB set leads a westbound freight out of a tunnel near Rockwood, Tenn., in the 1950s. R. D. Sharpless photo […]
OTTAWA, Ontario – The Canadian government said on Wednesday that it will spend $42 million to help fund capacity expansion projects at Port Saint John, New Brunswick, as well as to upgrade rail facilities in Saint John and McAdam on short line New Brunswick Southern. The New Brunswick Southern and its sister short line, Eastern […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Efforts by Class I railroads to hire more engineers and conductors are helping lift workforce numbers from record lows during the coronavirus pandemic. But other forms of railroad employment remain below pre-pandemic numbers, and overall employment is still dramatically lower than it was five years ago. According to the most recent Surface […]
WASHINGTON — The four largest U.S. Class I railroads have told federal regulators that their conductor training programs and hiring pipelines are full as they try to restore service to normal levels amid widespread crew shortages. The railroads’ service recovery plans, submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Friday as required, outlined the steps BNSF […]
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Genesee & Wyoming’s Georgia Central Railway will serve a new Hyundai Motor Group electric vehicle and battery manufacturing in Bryan County, Ga., the railroad has announced. The plant, a $5.5 billion project, is scheduled to begin commercial production in the first half of 2025, with Georgia Central delivering materials for production as […]
FORT MACLEOD, Alberta — Forty-three cars of a Canadian Pacific potash train derailed Sunday morning, CTV News reports. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the incident occurred about 8:15 a.m. east of Fort Macleoad and about 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of Calgary. No injuries were reported and there was no public safety hazard from […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National has hired a Montreal-based search firm to help find a French-speaking member for its board of directors, the railroad has announced. The announcement came as part of a Friday statement announcing the election of a new board chairwoman and 10 other board members. New board chairwoman Shauneen Bruder said the railroad […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern accumulated more break-in mileage for its former Reading Co. T-1 steam locomotive No. 2102 on a short freight movement Friday (May 20, 2022), ferrying 100 empty coal hoppers to be delivered to an anthracite shipper near Tamaqua, Pa. It was a follow-up to the April 26 break-in run […]
WASHINGTON – The Class I railroads submitted their first batch of expanded performance metrics to federal regulators this week, including a snapshot of on-time performance data. The board on May 6 ordered the railroads to report the data beginning this week in response to shipper complaints and testimony delivered during two days of hearings last […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern took delivery of its first unit train of frac sand on May 15. Norfolk Southern delivered the 75-car train to R&N’s North Reading Yard, where R&N crews were on hand with a five-unit set of SD40-2s to bring the train 120 miles north to R&N’s Sand Storage facility […]
