LOWELL, Ark. — Although its overall intermodal freight volumes were flat in the third quarter, J. B. Hunt Transport Services seeks to move more highway freight to trains. And Hunt officials say they’re also making their peace with Precision Scheduled Railroading, based on comments in a Tuesday earnings call with investors. Quarterly intermodal revenue was […]
Type of Train: Freight
Remembering Boston & Maine Railroad locomotives
Starting in October 2019, Classic Trains editors will celebrate the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. We start this series with the beloved Boston & Maine. Please enjoy a collection of images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M’s iconic locomotives and scarce builder’s photos. […]
Ask Trains: What is the Chicago-area yard that rhymes with ‘Marks’?
A Canadian National train with Illinois Central-painted locomotives departs Chicago’s Markham Yard in 2017. TEH-17089-16 Jacob Metzger Q: When I was in the second grade, we took a field trip to what was then the largest freight yard in the country. That was over 50 years ago, when I lived in a Chicago suburb. I […]
DOT, FRA, announce nearly $400 million in rail infrastructure grants NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration today issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Program. The funding opportunity includes $396 million in grant funding. “This $396 million in federal funding will provide a tremendous boost to private, state and local investments to improve […]
Key question at shipper conference: Are railroads still relevant? NEWSWIRE
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A common theme woven through several presentations at a regional rail shippers’ conference this week involved a key question: Are railroads still relevant? The world increasingly expects transportation that’s fast, reliable, and easy. Railroads are slow, unreliable, and complicated. As a result, they’ve lost market share to trucks and often aren’t even […]
Penn State professor questions long term effectiveness of Precision Scheduled Railroading NEWSWIRE
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Precision Scheduled Railroading favors stockholders over shippers, has not improved service, and could ultimately lead to some form of re-regulation of the railroad industry, a Penn State University logistics professor contends. “As an outsider, I’ve been looking at PSR and trying to figure out what it is, what it does, and what […]
More shippers file suits over railroad fuel surcharges NEWSWIRE
A CSX Transportation intermodal train hits the diamond at Blue Island, Ill., on Sept. 16, 2019. CSX, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific face a series of lawsuits from shippers over fuel surcharges the railroads instituted beginning in 2003. TRAINS: David Lassen Shippers across the country filed suit against the four largest U.S. railroads on […]
STB proposes rule to change reporting requirements for chemicals and plastics traffic on railroads NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would amend the Board’s railroad performance data reporting rules. Specifically, the Board proposes to include chemical and plastics traffic as a distinct reporting category to the Class I railroads’ weekly reporting of the “cars-held” metric, which tracks the average number […]
Supply chain ‘hall of fame’ to be founded near home of JB Hunt, Wal-Mart NEWSWIRE
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A supply chain hall of fame will be established in Rogers, Ark., based on a vote by the board of directors of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, according to officials at the University of Arkansas. Rogers is located near the headquarters of J. B. Hunt, and Johnelle Hunt, who with […]
YRC Freight, BNSF set to launch 600 branded containers by the end of 2019 NEWSWIRE
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Today YRC Freight announced that by the end of this year YRC and BNSF Railway will have onboarded more than 600 branded intermodal containers. These new containers are part of the YRC commitment to acquire 1,000 branded intermodal containers by the end of 2020. Most of the containers will travel between […]
Schneider trucking introduces new rail dray service NEWSWIRE
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Trucking and intermodal company Schneider has launched Schneider Rail Dray to aid shippers in getting freight to rail ramps and from rail ramps to receivers. Targeted for the new service are railroads, third party logistics companies without enough truck drivers, and shippers using their own intermodal containers, according to Schneider officials. […]
Granger scene
At terminal elevators, grain doors were stacked, collected, and sorted by the Western Weighing and Inspection Bureau for shipment back to originating railroads. These doors are stored by Milwaukee Road outside-braced boxcars. Library of Congress photo […]
