Powerful PAs persevere

Streamlined passenger diesels haul freight cars along a waterfront

Powerful PAs persevere Four Alco PAs roll Champlain Division local SC-20 along the shore of Lake Champlain just out of Port Henry, N.Y., en route south to Whitehall, N.Y., on May 7, 1977. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]

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Great Yellow Fleet

Yellow ice-cooled refrigerator car with silver roof and brown ends

Great Yellow Fleet Many older Western Fruit Express wood cars were rebuilt in the late 1940s. No. 72316 received steel sides with straight sills, a diagonal-panel roof, and improved 3/3 Dreadnaught ends. Jeff Wilson collection […]

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Two suffer burns when container on UP train catches fire

Firemen standing near double-stack container cars

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Two people suffered what were described as “critical burn injuries” after a container on a Union Pacific train caught fire Friday, leading to a temporary halt to traffic on the rail line as well as closure of one direction of adjacent Interstate 10 for about two hours. The Desert Sun newspaper […]

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Unions begin legal action against Norfolk Southern

Logo of SMART-TD union

CLEVELAND — Two major rail unions have begun legal action against Norfolk Southern, saying the railroad has been forcing locomotive engineers to work conductor positions, which is prohibited by their labor agreements with the railroad. The Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Art, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) and Brotherhood of Locomotive […]

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Analysis: STB chairman flags railroad growth problem

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman ruffled some feathers this month when he said railroads’ drive for ever-increasing profits resulted in a loss of market share to trucks over the past 15 years and continues to restrain growth today. Oberman cited STB figures that show a decline in rail traffic between 2006 and 2019 […]

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Analysis: Coal producers bet on met (coal) in 2022

Black locomotives lead train around curve in mountains

Part two of a look at the U.S. coal industry. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The COVID-19 pandemic may have shuttered economies and slowed industrial momentum, but a global rebound is helping coal producers refocus their long game on metallurgical coal investment as a broader initiative to diversify the sector. Met coal is a higher-priced coal used […]

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