Intermodal traffic drop continues for U.S. railroads

Weekly table of U.S. rail traffic by category for the week and year to date

WASHINGTON — Intermodal issues reflecting broad supply-chain problems continue to drag down U.S. freight rail volume, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Figures for the week ending Oct. 9 found overall traffic down 2.6% against the same week in 2020. The total volume of 506,642 carloads and intermodal units included […]

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CP train operating without functioning PTC at center of three-train collision in Minnesota

Derailed locomotive and freight car on adjacent tracks

WASHINGTON — A Canadian Pacific train operating without functioning positive train control triggered August’s three-railroad, three-train collision in St. Paul, Minn., according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The preliminary report, released Wednesday, lays out basic facts of the accident but does not draw any conclusions or recommend any actions. The […]

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Reading Company freight trains photo gallery

Black-and-white photo of steam locomotive with freight train

Reading Company freight trains are Classic Trains editors’ focus in this photo gallery.   All through October, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the gritty, coal-hauling, Pennsylvania-based Reading Company railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Reading freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Reading Company, as a railroad, […]

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Top KCS Precision Scheduled Railroading official to leave company

Kansas City Southern logo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sameh Fahmy, Kansas City Southern’s executive vice president, precision scheduled railroading, will leave KCS by year’s end, the railroad has announced. Fahmy joined KCS in January 2019. Since then, the railroad says it has increased train velocity by 37%, decreasing freight car dwell by 18%, enacted double-digit reductions in equipment, and […]

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Tiger Cool Express to buy former UP Cold Connect warehouse

Tiger Cool Express logo

WALLULA, Wash. — Tiger Cool Express, a temperature-sensitive intermodal service, has signed a letter of intent to acquire the former Union Pacific Cold Connect warehouse in Wallula and develop an adjacent intermodal rap. The facility will provide service for international containers between Wallula and the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, as well as domestic service […]

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AAR challenges points made in STB chairman’s speech to shippers

Smiling man in coat and tie

WASHINGTON — Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies has taken issue with many of the points Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman raised his speech to a shipper conference last month. Oberman told the North American Rail Shippers that the railroad industry’s drive for ever-increasing profits resulted in a loss of market share […]

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KCS turns to Commtrex to improve transload network

Kansas City Southern logo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern will use rail logistics platform Commtrex to improve the visibility and connectivity of its network of more than 100 transload facilities in 19 U.S. and Mexican states. The agreement announced Monday joins the railroad’s transload network with a platform that allows shippers to find transload centers by location, […]

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Rail operators to face new cybersecurity requirements

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — Major railroads and rail transit operators, along with airports and airlines, will be required to improve cybersecurity under a new directive from the Transportation Security Administration. Reuters reports that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that the companies and agencies will be required to name a chief cyber official, disclose hacks to […]

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