CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific posted higher quarterly revenue and operating income despite a decline in volume that was largely driven by the small Canadian grain crop. Operating income rose 6%, to $868 million, as revenue rose 7%, to $2.1 billion, CP announced on Thursday morning. Earnings per share, adjusted for the impact of one-time items, […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Canadian National blasts Amtrak proposal for dispatching control as ‘outrageously self-serving’
WASHINGTON — Canadian National calls an Amtrak proposal that would give it dispatching control over CN lines with poor passenger performance “an outrageously self-serving recipe” that would “cause profound harm to freight railroads, freight customers, American consumers, and the broader economy,” and urges the Surface Transportation Board to reject the concept “out of hand.” Amtrak, […]
Rock Island perishable traffic in the 1970s
Rock Island perishable traffic: One thing you learn quickly as a new railroad employee is that if you can hold a regular job, it’s because nobody else wants it. In 1973 Rock Island perishable traffic stopped icing at Silvis, Ill. This coincided with Pacific Fruit Express’s exit from the iced reefer business and represented the […]
Brightline begins 79-mph testing on section of route to Orlando
MELBOURNE, Fla. — In another small step forward for Brightline’s planned expansion of service north to Orlando, one of the passenger operator’s trains reached a top speed of 79 mph Wednesday afternoon on an approximately 20-mile stretch of Florida East Coast Railway track between Melbourne and Rockledge, Fla. Florida Today reports Brightline spokeswoman Katie Mitnzer […]
BNSF and J.B. Hunt to launch service from new terminal at Port of Tacoma
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway and J.B. Hunt will begin serving a new intermodal terminal at the Port of Tacoma, Wash., next month. BNSF and the Northwest Seaport Alliance said the terminal will meet increased demand for intermodal service in the Seattle region. The new terminal, on 16 acres leased from the port authority, […]
Norfolk Southern resumes hump operations at two yards under new operating plan
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has resumed hump operations at its classification yard in Macon, Ga., and will soon reopen the hump at Bellevue, Ohio, as part of the new operating plan it began rolling out last month. Both yards were converted to flat-switching facilities in 2020 after volume sank at the onset of the pandemic. […]
Quebec pension fund nears purchase of major European locomotive leasing firm
PARIS — A Quebec pension fund which has been active in Canadian rail infrastructure projects is reportedly the front-runner to purchase a Paris-based locomotive leasing firm. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and a possible alternative purchaser, U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan, both outbid potential French purchasers for leasing firm Akiem. The transaction […]
FRA releases proposed rule requiring two-person train crews (updated)
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has released its long-anticipated rule proposal to require two-person crews for trains, drawing predictable, and strong, reactions from railroads (which are opposed), and unions (which are in favor). The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would require two-person crews except for “certain low risk operations and circumstances where mitigating measures are […]
Norfolk Southern reports record quarterly results despite service woes and volume decline
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern set quarterly revenue, operating income, and earnings per share records despite lower volume and service problems related to ongoing crew shortages. “In the second quarter we stabilized service levels, expanded our pipeline of conductor trainees, and launched the next evolution of our operating plan, TOP | SPG, with our signature no […]
Canadian National optimistic about new container volume from Port of Halifax
MONTREAL – Canadian National’s plan to turn the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, into the Prince Rupert of the East is gaining traction. In June CN launched a second pair of intermodal trains that serve Halifax, where terminal operator PSA now owns both container terminals and has made improvements. The port also has expanded berths […]
BNSF extends embargo on California-bound carload traffic
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s embargo of certain types of carload traffic bound for California has been extended into August as its Southern Transcon remains congested in the Southwest. The embargo, which took effect on June 27, applies to automotive shipments as well as specific agricultural and industrial commodities. “In response to our temporary […]
NTSB finds violation of safety rule is likely cause of Pan Am employee death
WASHINGTON — A failure to follow rules prohibiting employees from moving between moving railcars during coupling was the probable cause of the death of a Pan Am Railways conductor, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report on the fatal May 2021 accident. The accident in Newington, N.H., on the afternoon of May 19, 2021, […]