Page 388 – Trains

Rio Grande Pacific to take over from Watco on Louisiana short line

WASHINGTON – Shortline holding company Rio Grande Pacific will add a fifth railroad to its stable: Bogalusa & Northern Railway in Louisiana. Bogalusa & Northern will acquire trackage rights over a mile of Canadian National’s Bogalusa Subdivision in Bogalusa and Leescreek, La., according to a regulatory filing. Watco’s Bogalusa Bayou Railroad currently holds the trackage […]

UP train was going 35 mph when it hit parked train in April accident in Texas

Two aerial photos of collision of two trains in Texas

WASHINGTON — A Union Pacific train was going about 48 mph when it was sent onto a yard track from the main line and 35 mph when it hit a parked train at a yard in Chico, Texas, on April 16, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. Two […]

Man faces felony charge in Tacoma derailment

TACOMA, Wash. — Prosecutors in Pierce County, Wash., have filed a felony charge against a 65-year-old Tacoma man accused with derailing one car of an oil train to derail on Tuesday in Tacoma’s Tideflats industrial area. The Tacoma News Tribune reports the man was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with a felony count of […]

Intermodal traffic still the issue as weekly US rail traffic remains down

Weekly table showing U.S. carload traffic by commodity type, plus overall intermodal traffic

WASHINGTON — As has been the case every week in 2023, weekly U.S. rail traffic was below 2022 levels for the week ending May 6, 2022, in this case by 6.6%. Total traffic was 471,859 carloads and intermodal units, with 231,718 carloads, down 0.04%, and 240,141 intermodal units, down 12.1% compared to the corresponding week […]

BLET ratifies contract with South Buffalo Railway

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen members have ratified a new agreement with the South Buffalo Railway, the union announced Wednesday. Union members ratified the agreement on May 5. The three-year contract includes a $1,000 signing bonus and wage increases of 5.5% this year, 4.5% in 2024, and 4% in 2025. It […]

End-of-train devices replaced cabooses

An orange end of train device is seen atop the rear coupler of a passing train

End-of-train devices replaced cabooses that, not so long ago, train watchers almost everywhere could count on as a final point of interest at the end of each freight train. The distinctive little cars housed crew members who would observe the cars ahead for defects, process the train’s paperwork, operate track switches, monitor the air-brake system […]

Railway Safety Act advances out of committee (second update)

Black locomotives lead train through curve

WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved a significantly revised version of the Railway Safety Act today (Wednesday, May 10), advancing the bill to the full Senate. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the bill, introduced in the wake of the Feb. 3 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, passed by a 16-11 margin, a […]