LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — With car velocity dropping and inventory climbing earlier this year, Union Pacific engaged in some “difficult conversations” with customers, Eric Gehringer says. The railroad’s executive vice president of operations is well aware for whom they were more difficult. “We had to go to our customers — some customers, not all customers […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Regulators deny California poultry producer’s request for extension of Union Pacific emergency service order
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday denied a California poultry and feed producer’s request for an extension of an emergency service order covering Union Pacific grain trains. Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, last week sought a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. Thousands […]
KCS de Mexico receives 10-year extension to operating concession
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s exclusive operating concession for its routes in Mexico have been extended by 10 years as part of an agreement with the Mexican government to invest in a new rail bypass route. The agreement with the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) extends the concession […]
Missouri, Amtrak relaunch second ‘River Runner’ round trip
KIRKWOOD, Mo. — Well-wishers who turned out Monday morning to welcome the restored second daily Missouri River Runner at the venerable Kirkwood train station, and other stops from St. Louis to Kansas City, Mo., included travelers riding train No. 311 west for the first time since it last operated on Jan. 3, 2022, when state […]
STB may seek to continue collecting expanded railroad performance data
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Some of the more detailed metrics the Surface Transportation Board has begun collecting as it tracks the rail industry’s service issues could become part of the STB’s regular regulatory oversight, board member Patrick Fuchs said Tuesday. “I do think that some of the service numbers that we have collected are extraordinarily […]
Union Pacific engineer laments high level of misrouted freight cars
WASHINGTON — Pressure to reduce terminal dwell figures has prompted some Union Pacific yards to routinely depart trains that include misrouted cars simply to get them moving, a UP engineer alleges in a letter sent to federal regulators. Michael Lindsey, a veteran engineer based in Pocatello, Idaho, used a train he ran to Nampa, Idaho, […]
California feed and poultry producer seeks extension of Union Pacific emergency service order
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific has been delivering unit grain trains as scheduled to a major California poultry and feed producer since federal regulators issued an emergency service order last month. But Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, is seeking a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. […]
CSX’s Foote: Blaming PSR for rail problems is ‘nonsense’
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — It just may be that CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote is a bit weary of hearing about the evils of Precision Scheduled Railroading. In his customary blunt style, Foote gave that impression Tuesday when speaking to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers about ongoing service issues for his railroad and the […]
Silver Meteor return, daily Crescent and City of New Orleans postponed again
WASHINGTON — Passengers who booked reservations between Sept. 11 and Oct. 2, 2022, on the Silver Meteor, or on the two days a week when the Crescent and City of New Orleans had not been running, will have to change their travel plans. Daily operation of those trains is now scheduled to commence in both […]
News photo: New Brightline trains heading to Florida
Two more new trainsets to support Brightline’s expansion of service to Orlando, Fla., are on their way to the passenger operator. The Bright Pink 2 and Bright Green 2 trainsets, which departed Siemens’ Sacramento factory on July 8, were photographed Saturday, July 16, on CSX Transportation’s Henderson Subdivision (Evansville, Ind.-Nashville, Tenn.). Brightline had said it […]
Three injured when train strikes on-track maintenance vehicle in California
OAKLAND, Calif. — Three people were injured after an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train hit on-track maintenance equipment late Friday morning, disrupting rail service for several hours. The San Jose Mercury News reports a front-load tractor owned by Union Pacific was working on the middle of three tracks when it was struck by San Jose-bound train […]
VRE to offer free service systemwide in September, at some locations in October
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Virginia Railway Express will eliminate fares for passengers in September, and for parts of its system in October, to offset closures of parts of the DC Metrorail rapid transit system. The VRE Operations Board approved the plan during a Friday meeting. It will make the entire system fare-free in September; in October, […]