The railroad industry’s chickens have come home to roost. Before he retired in 2019, BNSF Railway Executive Chairman Matt Rose warned that the other Class I railroads were inviting regulatory risk by adopting Precision Scheduled Railroading, reducing service, and demarketing some types of traffic in pursuit of higher profits. “We have this common-carrier obligation to […]
CICERO, Ill. — The Town of Cicero is suing BNSF Railway, which operates a major intermodal rail yard in the facility, claiming the railroad has intentionally acted to ensure rainwater runs off its property into the community — after the railroad sued the city over a stormwater ordinance the railroad says is “discriminatory and unlawful.” […]
LOWELL, Ark. — Demand for domestic intermodal service exceeds J.B. Hunt’s capacity because of slow customer turn times and the reduced velocity of the railroad network. “Demand for our intermodal capacity remains robust. In fact, demand continues to significantly outpace our available capacity, which remains constrained by rail performance and restrictions in addition to customer detention […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway is limiting the flow of international containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to its Logistics Park Chicago intermodal terminal for two weeks to work off a backlog of boxes that have built up in the Windy City. “BNSF is metering traffic from the West Coast […]
BNSF Railway ran a special passenger movement between Kansas City and Albuquerque, N.M., last week, via the Raton and Glorieta subdivisions, in anticipation of the return of a weekly freight movement over part of the line. Officially an engineering special, the movement saw CEO Katie Farmer and some of her staff were on board the […]
CHICAGO — Union Pacific may temporarily reopen its idled Global III intermodal terminal in Rochelle, Ill., to help relieve congestion at its Global IV terminal in Joliet, Ill. UP informed customers Wednesday it will temporarily halt shipments of international containers from all West Coast ports to its Global IV terminal for up to a week, […]
The summertime heat is hardly enough to keep western rail adventurer Tom Danneman away from the frontier he loves. Journey with him through the peaks, valleys, and plains of Montana, on his unique mission to find, focus, and capture the hard-charging railroads of the region. Season 1, Episode 4, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]
The summertime heat is hardly enough to keep western rail adventurer Tom Danneman away from the frontier he loves. Journey with him through the peaks, valleys, and plains of Montana, on his unique mission to find, focus, and capture the hard-charging railroads of the region. Season 1, Episode 4, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]
Intermodal analyst Larry Gross has gone out on a limb. In his latest “Intermodal in Depth” report, Gross predicts the demise of TOFC, or trailer on flatcar service, within the next four years. In some ways, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Trailers have become a smaller and smaller part of the intermodal world as […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was only $10 million out of a $7 billion state omnibus transportation package, but the legislation signed into law on Monday by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz adds the last required match to a $31.8 million 2020 Federal Railroad Administration grant that paves the way for a second Amtrak round-trip between […]
BENNET, Neb. — Ten cars of a BNSF coal train derailed Friday evening on a recently reactivated line southeast of Lincoln, Neb. The Lincoln Journal Star reports portions of the train still on the tracks initially blocked traffic on Bennet Road, but crews were able to separate the train to allow traffic flow to resume. […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s increasing use of longer trains is the most visible element of a broader effort to boost efficiency and productivity. Since the onset of the pandemic BNSF has been combining trains, blending different types of traffic in the same trains, and operating more double-length loaded unit trains of grain and […]
