LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Union Pacific engineer has won the right to take his service dog to work, six years after the railroad declined to allow the dog to accompany the man to work and three years after he filed suit. After a five-day trial, a U.S. District Court jury unanimously decided Perry Hopman, […]
Type of Train: Freight
Riding a caboose in central Illinois in the mid-20th century
In the late 1960s and in to the ’70s, I had numerous rides on Toledo, Peoria & Western freight trains in both directions out of Peoria, Ill., where I grew up. The TP&W interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors 108 miles east at Effner, Ind., and with the Santa Fe 114 miles west […]
Flooding triggers derailment, shutting down Union Pacific line in Utah (updated)
MILFORD, Utah — A derailment caused by flooding has added to the operational issues being faced by Union Pacific. The railroad informed customers on Friday that washouts resulting from flooding south of Milford, Utah, have shut down its route between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City — washouts that led to the derailment of a […]
CN, CP lines reopen in British Columbia
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific were both able to operate rail service through the Thompson and Fraser River canyons on Friday, the Port of Vancouver informed customers, while cautioning that wildfire activity in British Columbia’s interior continues and “impacts to rail operations are evolving and changing quickly.” Both railroads had halted […]
Merger costs dent Kansas City Southern quarterly earnings
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Southern’s revenue and volume surged in a second quarter that compared favorably to a year ago, when pandemic-related shutdowns resulted in historic traffic declines. But the railroad’s $700 million merger breakup fee paid to Canadian Pacific sent KCS into the red for the quarter. Current merger partner Canadian National will […]
Fires disrupting CN, CP in British Columbia, UP in California
Canadian National and Canadian Pacific main lines in British Columbia are once again both shut down because of wildfires. Meanwhile, in California, Union Pacific is also experiencing additional fire-related disruptions. Container shipper Hapag-Lloyd informed customers on Thursday that CN and CP have halted operations east of Lytton at the request of the B.C. Wildfire Service, […]
TSB report: Accidental brake release led to Ontario short line runaway
RICHMOND HILL, Ontario — An inadvertent brake release by the engineer as he left the locomotive cab led to the derailment of a runaway train earlier this year on the Goderich Exeter Railway in Goderich, Ontario, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has determined. In the Feb. 1, 2021, accident, two locomotives and six cars […]
Western railroads struggle with off-rail intermodal supply chain problems
CHICAGO — Union Pacific may temporarily reopen its idled Global III intermodal terminal in Rochelle, Ill., to help relieve congestion at its Global IV terminal in Joliet, Ill. UP informed customers Wednesday it will temporarily halt shipments of international containers from all West Coast ports to its Global IV terminal for up to a week, […]
Canada Infrastructure bank could provide major funding for Calgary-Banff passenger operation
CALGARY, Alberta — The Canada Infrastructure bank may fund up to half of a proposed passenger rail operation between Calgary’s airport and the popular tourist destination of Banff, an idea promoted by the provincial government and a private firm, Liricon Capital. Canadian Pacific, whose rail line would be involved, is open to the idea, Canadian […]
Norfolk Southern launches expedited, less-than-carload service
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Norfolk Southern has dipped its toes into a market that railroads abandoned decades ago: Expedited less-than-carload service. NS launched the door-to-door service this month as an experiment in the Chicago-Atlanta-Miami corridor. Trucks pick up small loads and deliver them to a rail-served warehouse where the shipments are cross-docked into waiting boxcars. The […]
Two CN lines in British Columbia shut down by fires (updated)
LYTTON, B.C. — Less than 24 hours after Canadian National reopened its fire-damaged main line in British Columbia, that line has been shut down again — as has the former British Columbia Railway line that had been used to reroute some traffic. Bloomberg reports CN informed customers on Wednesday that it was suspending operations between […]
Rail traffic slips from previous week, remains just ahead of 2020 figures
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic managed a slight gain over 2020 figures in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads, while experiencing a notable decline over the previous week’s figures. After a long period where 2021 statistics were well ahead of the corresponding figures for 2020, the week ending July 10 found […]