LOS ANGELES — Union Pacific will resume international container shipments to Chicago from the West Coast at the end of its current seven-day suspension of such service, CEO Lance Fritz told Reuters on Thursday. “We’re starting to see containers clear, so I anticipate in the seven-day period … we should get back down to a […]
DEL MAR, Calif. — The North County Transit District has reached agreement with the city of Del Mar and the California Coastal Commission on plans for safety fencing on the rail line along the Del Mar bluffs, postponing and perhaps ending the NCTD’s request for action by the Surface Transportation Board. The San Diego Union-Tribune […]
WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman today asked the Class I railroads to provide information on congestion at inland intermodal terminals, where international containers are stacking up faster than customers can receive them. “I am particularly concerned about significant increases in container congestion at key U.S. terminals, and substantial charges being levied by […]
Spurred by the growth in home delivery during the pandemic, the desire by legislators to reduce goods vehicle use in cities, and a shortage of drivers in several countries, rail operators in Britain, Italy, and Germany are looking at offering new services with rebuilt equipment for parcels and light freight. Two different projects in the […]
The railroad industry’s chickens have come home to roost. Before he retired in 2019, BNSF Railway Executive Chairman Matt Rose warned that the other Class I railroads were inviting regulatory risk by adopting Precision Scheduled Railroading, reducing service, and demarketing some types of traffic in pursuit of higher profits. “We have this common-carrier obligation to […]
CICERO, Ill. — The Town of Cicero is suing BNSF Railway, which operates a major intermodal rail yard in the facility, claiming the railroad has intentionally acted to ensure rainwater runs off its property into the community — after the railroad sued the city over a stormwater ordinance the railroad says is “discriminatory and unlawful.” […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific reported record financial results on Thursday, including new marks for operating income, net income, earnings per share, and operating ratio. “We pulled all three profitability levers simultaneously: volume, price, and productivity,” CEO Lance Fritz told investors and analysts on the railroad’s earnings call. The railroad improved its outlook and now expects […]
AUBURN, Ind. — An estimated 15 cars of a CSX Transportation intermodal train derailed Wednesday morning in Auburn. No injuries were reported. The Kendallville Star reports the accident occurred on the south side of Auburn, a community of 12,000 about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne. Firefighters from Jackson Township and Auburn responded to the […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — Transport Canada has launched an effort seeking public comment on improving the safety culture in the rail industry. The federal agency has developed a Safety Culture Policy Statement defining the term “safety culture,” outlining its role as regulator, and identifying elements that can shape a safety culture, both positively (such as two-way […]
WASHINGTON — A week after U.S. rail volume took a rare dip toward 2020 levels, the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads once again show a comfortable increase in 2021 traffic over the comparable week a year earlier. For the week ending July 17, overall rail traffic totaled 513,255 carloads and intermodal units, […]
Getting grain to market A truck dumps its load of wheat through the floor grate into the bin at an elevator in Fowlerville, Mich., in 1950. The framework in the background is for elevating wagons and trucks that don’t dump on their own. The town is located on the Chesapeake & Ohio’s Pere Marquette main […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation won’t be able to get its merchandise service back to pre-pandemic levels until it can hire enough train and engine crews to handle strong volume growth. That likely won’t happen before the end of the year because the railroad is struggling to hire conductors in an extremely tight labor market, executives […]
