Because of a production error with our Spring 2016 issue, the map that should have accompanied the article “Calamity at Glenita” — about a 1968 coal train derailment on the Southern Railway — was omitted from the magazine. Here is the map. […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
AAR launches latest update to Freight Rail Works website NEWSWIRE
A screen capture image of the Association of American Railroads’ latest updated Freight Rail Works website. Association of American Railroads’ website WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today debuted the newest installment of its Freight Rail Works campaign, which explores how freight rail’s ongoing private investments in building, growing and maintaining the nation’s rail […]
CSX’s Michael Ward: I’ll be around three more years NEWSWIRE
CSX Chairman Michael J. Ward CSX Transportation JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Chairman and CEO Michael Ward says he will be on the job three more years. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Trains Editor Jim Wrinn on Friday, Ward said the CSX board of directors asked him to stay on three more years. “I plan […]
Denver’s Burnham Shops closing after more than a century
DENVER — On Feb. 14 another piece of Colorado railroad history will slip away as Union Pacific closes its Burnham Shops in Denver. Once the second largest UP shop behind Jenks Shop in North Little Rock, Ark., the loss of Burnham closes another chapter in the history of the late and much beloved Denver & […]
FRA says it is collecting more fines from railroads NEWSWIRE
Collection rate on railroad fines (by year) Federal Railroad Administration Reasons for railroad civil fines (for fiscal year 2015) Federal Railroad Adminisrtation WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today announced that it has stepped-up enforcement of railroad safety regulations led to the highest-ever civil penalty collection rate in the agency’s 50-year history. For fiscal year […]
Tech company’s device can detect in cab cell phone calls NEWSWIRE
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — New in-cab locomotive technology designed to identify communications over cellular frequencies is now working on U.S. railroads, Wi-Tronix officials tell Trains News Wire. The Illinois-based company has deployed its “Mobile Phone Detection System” on at least one Class I railroad and one California short line railroad. The company could not disclose which […]
‘The greatest railroader of all time’
Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern networks with most major routes shown. Trains: Rick Johnson CALGARY, Alberta — Bill Ackman, Canadian Pacific’s activist shareholder, says in a conference call today that E. Hunter Harrison is the “greatest railroader of all time” and that he is the premium Norfolk Southern shareholders would receive regardless of whether a […]
Analyst: RoadRailer a ‘missed opportunity’ for industry NEWSWIRE
Brian Schmidt FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A leading intermodal analysts says that Norfolk Southern’s decision to scale back use of its RoadRailer trailer trains is a “missed opportunity” for the industry. Earlier this month, NS discontinued most of its RoadRailer trains and is incorporating traffic that was once moved by its Fort Wayne-based Triple Crown […]
Railroads finding hidden freight car trackers NEWSWIRE
What’s in a picture? In this one a brown-painted automatic equipment identification, or AEI, reader barely pokes out of a slope along a Conrail right-of-way in New Jersey. Railroads are alarmed that the AEI readers might be spread throughout the country, gathering and sharing information on freight moves without their knowledge. Two images: An Association […]
NS to mothball 50 miles of coal lines in West Virginia NEWSWIRE
On a dreary fall afternoon situated east of Elmore in the hamlet of Garwood, W.Va., depicts Norfolk Southern train U86 struggling to maintain 10 mph as it crawls across a trestle and into Tunnel 9, located beneath the photographer. Evidence of the Virginian electrification is still visible in this section along the old Princeton Deepwater […]
Triple Crown cutting routes, jobs NEWSWIRE
A Triple Crown Services RoadRailer trailer in transit. Brian Schmidt NORFOLK, Va. — Expect to see fewer RoadRailer trailers in the coming months as Triple Crown Services cuts back on jobs, trailers, and routes. In a statement early Friday morning, Norfolk Southern says it will restructure its Triple Crown Service subsidiary by laying off as […]
Cargo theft looms as railroad problem NEWSWIRE
Westbound stacks on the BNSF Clovis Sub glide through Mountainair, N.M., and begin their descent to Abo Canyon and Belen. Jan.1, 2013. BNSF Railway Police recently busted a ring of cargo thieves in this area. William P. Diven ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — While the public fixates on burning oil trains and security agencies contemplate terror […]