WASHINGTON — Pressure to reduce terminal dwell figures has prompted some Union Pacific yards to routinely depart trains that include misrouted cars simply to get them moving, a UP engineer alleges in a letter sent to federal regulators. Michael Lindsey, a veteran engineer based in Pocatello, Idaho, used a train he ran to Nampa, Idaho, […]
Railroad: Union Pacific
California feed and poultry producer seeks extension of Union Pacific emergency service order
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific has been delivering unit grain trains as scheduled to a major California poultry and feed producer since federal regulators issued an emergency service order last month. But Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, is seeking a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. […]
Three injured when train strikes on-track maintenance vehicle in California
OAKLAND, Calif. — Three people were injured after an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train hit on-track maintenance equipment late Friday morning, disrupting rail service for several hours. The San Jose Mercury News reports a front-load tractor owned by Union Pacific was working on the middle of three tracks when it was struck by San Jose-bound train […]
CP and KCS say their merger should get green light from regulators
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — responding to critics, skeptics, and opponents — told federal regulators this week that their proposed merger is in the public interest and should be approved. The railroads, in a three-volume, 4,374-page filing, argued that the first merger of Class I railroads in two decades should sail through […]
BNSF claims CP-KCS merger will throw Houston terminal into gridlock
A Kansas City Southern intermodal train heads for the Union Pacific Brownsville Subdivision at Robstown, Texas, in November 2017. Bill Stephens WASHINGTON – Projected traffic increases from the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger will put the critical Houston terminal into gridlock, BNSF Railway has warned federal regulators this week, citing a new analysis. CP and […]
Amtrak urges regulators to reject CN’s request to gain control of KCS’s former Gateway Western trackage
WASHINGTON – Amtrak has urged federal regulators to reject Canadian National’s quest to obtain Kansas City Southern’s former Gateway Western trackage as a condition of the proposed Canadian Pacific-KCS merger. CN aims to create a new single-line route dubbed the Springfield Speedway that would link Kansas City and St. Louis with Chicago, Detroit, and Eastern […]
CN posts slight quarterly traffic gain while other big systems see volume declines
Canadian National was the only one of the big six railroads to gain traffic in 2022’s second quarter. CN’s traffic was up 0.4%, essentially flat compared to last year’s second quarter. CSX Transportation was flat, too, but its volume was down 0.1%. Canadian Pacific’s traffic was down 1.5%. Union Pacific’s declined 2% for the quarter, […]
STB directs Union Pacific to continue operating under emergency service order
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has directed Union Pacific to continue providing priority service and reports on that service for a California feed and poultry company under an emergency order issued in June. In a ruling Friday, the board ordered that while subsequent UP service has mitigated the “dire emergency” faced by Foster Farms […]
Big Boy West Coast tour off; Denver-Cheyenne excursion announced
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The planned Pacific Northwest tour of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is off for 2022, the railroad announced in a Thursday afternoon email to members of its Steam Club. But the locomotive will make an outing to Denver later this month to pull an excursion benefitting the Union Pacific Museum. The […]
Rochelle council approves funds for railroad park improvements
ROCHELLE, Ill. — The Rochelle City Council has approved more than $30,000 for the first part of a three-phase plan to upgrade the Rochelle Railroad Park, the popular facility at the crossing of BSNF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad main lines. The Rochelle News-Leader reports that at a Monday meeting, the council approved a $30,750 […]
Officials vote to create inland port authority for Nebraska industrial park
HERSHEY, Neb. — Commissioners in Nebraska’s Lincoln County have voted to create an inland port authority to manage a planned rail-served industrial park, and to buy an adjacent factory site with a rail spur crucial to the industrial park plan. The North Platte Telegraph reports the commissioners voted 5-0 on Monday to create the port […]
Union Pacific train derails in Kansas
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — Twenty-five cars of a Union Pacific train, including some carrying hazardous materials, derailed Friday evening in Bonner Springs. The Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department, which responded, reports nine of the cars were tank cars carrying isobutane, a flammable gas used to make products ranging from aviation gasoline to plastics to food […]