Second-busiest Texas-Mexico rail border crossing shut down due to migrant crisis (updated)

BNSF Railway Eagle Pass to Mexico rail

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency has shut down the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing – the second-busiest rail gateway to Mexico – due to the worsening migrant crisis. Union Pacific and BNSF Railway interchange with Ferromex at the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras gateway, where about 16 trains per day cross the Rio Grande, according […]

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Norfolk Southern creates new position for vice president of transportation

Norfolk Southern logo

ATLANTA — As of Sept. 16,  Norfolk Southern has confirmed two recent promotions in its current ranks. According to NS’ media relations department, Floyd Hudson has been appointed to a newly created position. His title: Vice president of field engagement. In this leadership role, Hudson will primarily be engaging with front-line railroaders for ideas on […]

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Personal rail safety a year-long concern

See tracks? Think train logo. Personal rail safety a year-long concern.

WASHINGTON — In 1972 the annual average number of U.S. grade crossing collisions had risen to 12,000. Concerned about this tragic situation, the Idaho governor’s office, Idaho Peace Officers, and the Union Pacific Railroad launched a 6-week public awareness educational campaign called Operation Lifesaver to promote highway-railroad grade crossing safety. Idaho’s crossing-related fatalities decreased that […]

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UP Bailey Yard explosion appears to be accidental

Union Pacific logo without slogan. UP Bailey Yard explosion appear to be accidental.

OMAHA, Neb. — Investigators report the explosion that occurred in Union Pacific’s North Platte, Neb., Bailey Yard on Sept. 14, appears to be accidental, but it’s not yet clear what caused it, according to an AP news story. At the time of the explosion the car holding the container was not moving. It was located […]

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Federal regulators OK Norfolk Southern acquisition of Cincinnati Southern

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators today approved Norfolk Southern’s proposed $1.62 billion acquisition of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which it has leased from the City of Cincinnati since 1881. But Cincinnati voters will have the final word: They’re scheduled to vote on the proposal on Nov. 7. The Surface Transportation Board decision also authorized NS subsidiary […]

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Wabtec gets work out of new locomotive engines before they even leave the factory floor

Locomotive prime movers: Pale-green painted engines sit on blocks in a factory.

PITTSBURGH – Wabtec has come up with a creative way to produce power at its Grove City, Pa., engine plant: It’s tapping the electricity generated during testing of the thousands of new locomotive and marine engines the factory builds each year. Wabtec tests up to 3,000 engines at the Grove City plant annually, with each […]

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Minnesota steam locomotive might run this fall

steam train with mucky green water in front

Minnesota steam locomotive: Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 332 DULUTH, Minn. — The continuing saga of the on-again off-again operation of Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 332 appears to be “on” again. Throughout this summer the locomotive has been under repair, with staybolts being replaced and another […]

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EMD’s Geeps: A rare pair of diesel locomotives

A pair of blue locomotives rest in a freight yard under a sunny sky. The locomotive have white roofs and white road numbers.

GP15D & GP20D A rare pair of Geep diesel locomotives, the GP15D and GP20D, looked like sure winners, but sank with hardly a ripple when they hit the market in the early 2000s. Locomotive builder MotivePower, Inc., based in Boise, Idaho marketed a light road-switcher concept in the early 2000s that should have appealed to […]

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Wichita Falls Railroad Museum to reopen

blue logo with train

Wichita Falls Railroad Museum WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Wichita Falls Railroad Museum will reopen after the Wichita Falls City Council approved a one-year lease on the Museum building, Texoma’s News reported. The museum will be managed and operated by its board of directors. The Wichita Falls Railroad Museum was founded in 1980 to establish a […]

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STB seeks more information about UP-CPKC trackage rights dispute

Aerial view of Kansas City Southern train passing grain elevators in Texas

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have asked Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Kansas City to provide more information regarding their ongoing dispute over CPKC trackage rights on UP between Beaumont, Texas, and the ports of Houston and Galveston. The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision posted today, also denied CPKC’s request for an expedited decision by […]

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Mexico’s President takes ride on rebuilt railway

man smiling at camera

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s President López Obrador rode a passenger train from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 17 on the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) railroad, a $1 billion seaport-to-seaport rail project for passenger and cargo, Mexico News Daily reported. The train included former Amtrak Amfleet cars […]

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