FAIRMONT, Okla. — High winds are being blamed for the derailment of a BNSF train today (July 21) near the town of Fairmont. BNSF said 29 cars derailed while the train was stopped because of high winds, according to the Associated Press. The railroad said no one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved. […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed requiring the Class I railroads to provide monthly data that tracks train length and tonnage as well as the number of reportable accidents for trains over and under 7,500 feet. The FRA, in a notice published in the Federal Register today, says it wants to use the […]
Do you need a beginner’s guide to rock-garden plants? Plants that are typically suited to rocky places are tough characters. Understanding their characteristics will help you select plants for the railroad garden that will work well in the crevices of rocks, creeping along cliffs, or draped down rock faces. They often come from mountainous origins […]
There is more to understanding railroad wayside signals than simply “green means go, red means stop.” To appreciate what the signals you see along the track are telling you, you first have to grasp a few basic concepts. Railroad traffic control boils down to three situations: trains running in the same direction on the same […]
The people who work on trains have a variety of jobs. A Norfolk Southern flagman inspects a train near Marion, Ohio. Dale A. DeVene Jr. The people who work on trains have a variety of jobs. Each member of a train crew has a specific function. Since train crews do most of their work beyond […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway has been in hot water with federal regulators over the level of service it’s providing to a Montana coal mine. But now BNSF has found an ally in a Missouri utility cooperative that has praised the railroad’s service. “BNSF Railway provides unit coal train rail service from Wyoming Powder River Basin […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The KC Streetcar is back in operation. Streetcar service resumed this morning (July 21), 17 days after being halted because of track failure on a portion of the Main Street bridge over Interstate 670. The streetcar operator says multiple factors led to the track failure, including thermal expansion and degradation of […]
The traditional life cycle for new locomotives on a Class I roster would be revenue service, followed by lease return if the railroad leased the power or retirement and sale if they were purchased. In a handful of cases, power that departed a Class I roster will find its way back into its original owner’s […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A tentative agreement may be in place that would end the labor dispute at British Columbia ports. A posting on the website of International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada Local 502, representing workers along the Fraser River, says a tentative agreement between the union and the BC Maritime Employers Association […]
LAKELAND, Fla. — A national injury law firm has filed suit against three trucking companies and a driver over the collision that derailed an Amtrak train July 14 in Lakeland, sending eight people to the hospital for treatment of injuries. WFLA-TV reports the suit was filed against Lastre Auto Transport, M&L Auto Transport, and Betan […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak and funding for rail-related grant programs fared far better with Senate appropriators on Thursday than they did last week with those in the House of Representatives. Transportation spending for fiscal 2024 in a bill approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations includes some $2.45 billion for Amtrak operations and state-of-good repair funding, […]
MONTREAL — High-frequency rail is developing at something other than a high-speed pace in the hands of the Canadian government. The CBC reports that Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Thursday that he hopes the proposed passenger-only route between Toronto and Quebec City could be operation by the mid-2030s, rather than early in that decade, as […]
