HOMEWOOD, Ill. — Canadian National has named its Woodcrest Shops after former Chief Operating Officer Ed Harris, who began his railroad career at the Illinois Central facility outside Chicago. “We were thrilled to welcome recently retired CN COO and railroading veteran Ed Harris back for a very special visit and surprise, as we renamed our […]
Railroad: Canadian National
Regulators delve into an Amtrak ‘Sunset Limited’ mystery
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has received thousands of pages of documents as part of its investigation into the substandard on-time performance of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. And yet regulators still have a mystery on their hands. The key question they want answered: Which railroads officially host the easternmost 15.5 miles of the Sunset Limited’s […]
CN, CPKC preparing to restart Canadian operations; union declines to return Sunday (updated)
Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are moving toward restarting operations early Monday following a Saturday ruling by the Canada Industrial Relations Board ending the work stoppages at both railroads. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, however, continues to take issue with the CIRB decision sending the dispute between the union and railroads to binding […]
Canadian agency upholds binding arbitration order to end rail dispute (additional update)
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canada Industrial Relations Board has affirmed the decision by Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to end the work stoppages at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, requiring the railroads to resume operations and to impose binding arbitration between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to resolve new contract […]
Teamsters Canada issues 72-hour strike notice against CN; lengthy hearing concludes with no action (latest update)
The labor situation involving Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference remains both active and muddy. Earlier today (Friday, Aug. 23), the TCRC served Canadian National with a 72-hour strike notice, announcing its intent to launch a strike against the railroad at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 26. […]
Rail travel photography yesterday and today
Rail travel photography Over the course of my half-century of railroad photography I’ve seen technology completely change the ways we make photographs. Even so, when it comes to rail travel photography your eye for images will pay dividends far greater than that provided by the latest and greatest camera. In 1984, two months after graduating […]
Teamsters Canada returning to work at CN, remains out at CPKC
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has taken down its picket lines at Canadian National Railway and will begin returning to work, the union said in a brief statement early today (Friday, Aug. 23). But the union said the work stoppage continues at Canadian Pacific Kansas City pending an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board, […]
Canadian commuter operations remain shuttered because of lockouts
The apparent end of lockouts at CPKC and Canadian National is not bringing an immediate return for commuter rail service halted by the labor dispute. Commuter lines suspended Thursday in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal will remain out of service today (Friday, Aug. 23) despite the government order to send the dispute between the railroads and […]
Canada’s labor minister orders arbitration to end CN, CPKC work stoppages, but union keeps picket lines up (additional update)
OTTAWA — The Canadian government has moved to end Canada’s freight rail work stoppage — the first to shut down both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City simultaneously. However, while the two railroads say they are preparing to resume operations after Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon sent the dispute to binding arbitration, the Teamsters Canada […]
Lockouts begin on CN, CPKC
Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are now shut down in Canada after locking out Teamsters Canada Rail Conference operating crews beginning at 12:01 a.m. today (Aug. 22) — the first time both railroads have been hit by a work stoppage at the same time. A lockout of CPKC rail traffic controllers began […]
CN calls for government intervention as rail shutdown approaches
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway called for government intervention this evening as Canada moved closer to a shutdown of its two Class I railroads, but earlier today [Aug. 21] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau simply called on the two sides to reach a deal. CN plans to lock out members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference […]
Business as usual for CN, CPKC shortline partners as labor strike looms
CHICAGO — Short line and regional railroads interchanging with Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City say it’s business as usual — for now — despite the growing threat of a railroad strike and lockout later this week between the Canadian railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. Michael Martinez, the director of business development […]