LOMBARD, Ill. – The winter meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, which will be held Jan. 14-16, 2020 in Lombard, will focus on “Rail’s 2020 Crossroads: Market Share vs. Operating Ratio.” Trains News Wire will have complete coverage for the duration of the event. Declining freight rail traffic and market share will be […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Trains Top 10 stories for 2019, No. 4: Big main lines, short lines swapping ownership NEWSWIRE
Central Maine & Quebec’s Job 1 rolls west at Magog, Quebec, with AC44CWs, Nos. 1002 and 1006, and GP38-3 No. 3812 in June 2018. Canadian Pacific has agreed to buy the short line, giving the railroad direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. Frank Jolin In 2018, Trains editors forecasted that CSX Transportation would continue spinning […]
Trains Top 10 stories for 2019, No. 6: Precision Scheduled Railroading takes over NEWSWIRE
E. Hunter Harrison Courtesy, Canadian Pacific Wildfire — in the form of Precision Scheduled Railroading — has enflamed corporate railroad headquarters from Mexico to Canada and throughout the United States. It’s hard to imagine any theory of operations and management, so long opposed by the notoriously status-quo cultures of U.S. railroads, could take root so […]
FRA proposes changes to rail, brake inspection rules NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Dec. 19 which would allow railroads to change how they inspect track and train brake systems. Officials say the changes will “promote safety innovation and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.” “It’s time to modernize existing regulations to permit methods of inspecting, testing, […]
Report: Canadian union sues CP, claiming crews are forced to work beyond hours of service NEWSWIRE
TORONTO — The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is suing Canadian Pacific, alleging that the railroad is forcing employees to work beyond their hours of service in violation of a 2018 arbitration order. Reuters News reported on Dec. 20 that earlier this year the Teamsters filed a lawsuit against CP in federal court and that the […]
Illinois, Michigan Tech programs win NRC educational grants NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — Programs at the University of Illinois and Michigan Tech are the 2019 recipients of the National Rairload Construction and Maintenance Association’s Educational Grant Program. The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign plans to use its grant funds for outreach and recruiting of grade K-12 students that demonstrate […]
CN says operations have returned to normal after strike NEWSWIRE
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway reports it has returned to normal operation, catching up on the backlog created from an eight-day strike in Canada in November. The railroad cited performance indicators showing the railroad is within normal operational ranges. The Nov. 19-27 strike by members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference reduced the railroad to […]
AAR: Rail traffic mostly down, again NEWSWIRE
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 14, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 520,589 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.5% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Dec. 14 were […]
Legislators question West Virginia plan to sell failed intermodal hub NEWSWIRE
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state may sell a failed West Virginia intermodal hub, built for $32 million, for as little as $1 million — a prospect that drew objections Tuesday from legislators. The Heartland Intermodal Gateway in Prichard, W.Va., opened in December 2015 with the goal of handling 15,000 containers a year, the Charleston Gazette-Mail […]
NRC announces 2019 award winners NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association has announced its 2019 award winners, to be honored at the 2020 NRC convention in Coronado, Calif., Jan. 5-8. R.J. Corman received the Large Project of the Year award for its BNSF Napier Project dealing with midwestern flooding. Massman Construction Co. received the Small Project of […]
Canadian farmers want legislation that would bar rail strikes NEWSWIRE
Canadian grain hoppers move through the Columbia Gorge in Oregon on Union Pacific in June 2018. In the wake of the recent Canadian National Railway strike, grain farmers in Canada want rail deliveries declared an essential service, which would bar employee strikes. TRAINS: David Lassen CALGARY — Nearly three weeks after a strike against Canadian […]
AAR shows anemic traffic volume for the week of Dec. 7, 2019 NEWSWIRE
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 7, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 517,130 carloads and intermodal units, down 9.4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Dec. 7 were […]