SEATTLE — The Amtrak Cascades service will add a round trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, from Portland, Ore., on March 7, restoring operations to Vancouver to their pre-pandemic levels. Also, the Cascades service recently provided an advance look at how its equipment will look, inside and out, when it takes delivery of the Siemens equipment […]
BOYERTOWN, Pa — The Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust, the non-profit group supporting Pennsylvania’s Colebrookdale Railroad heritage operation, has received a $2.25 million state grant for a new event space and market area at the railroad’s yard in downtown Boyerstown. The grant was awarded under Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, which supports acquisition and construction of […]
OMAHA, Neb. — A 42-year-old Arizona man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for calling in threats to Union Pacific headquarters and other Omaha locations in April 2021. The Omaha World-Herald reports Andrew Isaac Abrams of Tucson was sentenced for transmitting threats through interstate commerce on Friday, Jan. 13, according to a […]
The plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit by residents of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, are appealing a December Superior Court decision that found Canadian Pacific was not liable in the 2013 oil-train disaster that killed 47 people in the community. The Canadian Press reports that the three individuals involved the suit, on behalf of some 4,500 members of […]
CALGARY — Canadian Pacific and Canadian union Unifor have reached agreement on a new contract for approximately 1,200 mechanical employees, the two parties announced today (Friday, Jan. 13). The previous agreement had expired on Dec. 31, 2022. Terms of the agreement were not announced. Both parties said details would be released following ratification. The workers, […]
CHICAGO — Norfolk Southern efforts to expand a rail yard on Chicago’s South Side have run into resistance from local residents concerned the railroad has not followed through on promises of job opportunities, as well as on the effects of the surrounding neighborhood. Local news site Block Club Chicago reports the railroad is continuing work […]
You have to give Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw a standing ovation for his performance at the railroad’s investor day last month. Using logic as a sledgehammer, it took him just 10 minutes to demolish two of the things that have hurt rail service and put a lid on traffic growth: Excessive cost-cutting and an […]
DeKALB, Ill. — The DeKalb City Council has voted to fund a transportation study aimed at determining the feasibility of bringing Metra commuter rail service to the city. At its meeting earlier this week, the council voted unanimously to fund a $98,379 study by Sam Schwartz Consulting LLC “to identify potential ridership, capital costs, and […]
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa Interstate Railroad will purchase 30 acres in Iowa City’s Industrial Campus for a new rail-to-truck transloading facility, the railroad and city have announced. In addition to being adjacent to the Iowa Interstate mainline, the facility, set to open this summer, is close to Interstate 80 and U.S. routes 6 and […]
PORT COLBORNE, Ontario — The Canadian government will invest up to C$22.7 million to rebuild three long-idle wharves along the Welland Canal on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Port Colborne, generating marine traffic that will move by rail or truck, Transport Canada has announced. The federal funding will be backed by $22.6 million from the […]
FAIRPLAY, Md. — Cleanup continues after 26 cars of a 96-car Norfolk Southern merchandise train derailed Wednesday night near Fairplay, the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports. The derailment was reported to NS dispatchers about 8:50 p.m. and to Washington County, Md., Emergency Dispatch at 9:17 p.m. No injuries or hazardous materials were involved. Estimates were that it […]
Rail traffic is expected to have another tough year as intermodal, carload, and coal traffic will all struggle to show growth. That’s the view of Todd Tranausky, vice president of rail and intermodal at freight forecasting firm FTR Transportation Intelligence. North American rail traffic was down 1.9% overall last year, according to the Association of […]
