News photo: KCS donates more than $500,000 for Ukraine relief

Four people with oversized check standing in front of passenger car with name "Harry Truman"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern presented a check for $504,530 to the American Red Cross on Monday in support of global Red Cross efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. KCS announced in March it would donate $500,000, as well as match employee donations to the American Red Cross for its response […]

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BNSF Railway earnings improve despite first-quarter volume decline

Coal train approaches with another visible in the distance

OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s revenue and profits grew in the first quarter despite a decline in volume. The railway’s operating income rose 8%, to $2 billion, as revenue increased 10%, to $6 billion, thanks to higher revenue per carload and intermodal unit, the railroad’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. BNSF’s operating ratio […]

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The Trains Interview: Outgoing Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires

Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires retired over the weekend, passing the baton to new NS President Alan Shaw effective May 1. Squires, who became chief executive in 2015, had an eventful tenure at the helm. Under Squires’ watch, NS fended off unwanted merger advances from Canadian Pacific, pared its Triple Crown RoadRailer service amid the […]

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Track-repair error led to 2019 CN oil-train derailment

Diagram of derailment site in Canada showing location of tank cars and site of oil spill

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A track-repair error led to a rail-joint failure, causing a 2019 derailment of a Canadian National oil train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in its summary of a report released Friday. The Feb. 16, 2019, accident near St-Lazare, Man., led to the derailment of 37 cars of a 110-car crude […]

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BNSF train derails, catches fire in North Dakota (updated)

Black smoke rising from fire at train derailment

BURLINGTON, N.D. — Fifteen cars of a BNSF Railway intermodal train derailed early Sunday near Burlington, with some cars catching fire, closing the railroad’s Glasgow Subdivision main line just west of Minot, N.D. KMOT-TV reports that while the derailment occurred about 1 a.m., as of 3:15 p.m., the fire was still burning because firefighters were […]

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Brightline, Florida seek funds for grade-crossing safety projects

Yellow and white passenger train crosses street

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Brightline and the Florida Department of Transportation will seek a $25 million federal grant to help fund a $45 million project to address ongoing grade-crossing accidents along the passenger operator’s route in South Florida. The Palm Beach Post reports in a paywalled article that the project would make improvements at […]

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Union members protest at stockholder meeting of BNSF parent

Group of people holding picket signs outside building

OMAHA, Neb. — Railroad union members, who have been increasingly vocal about working conditions and the lack of a new contract, protested Saturday at the annual meeting of BNSF Railway parent Berkshire Hathaway, picketing and handing out leaflets outside the meeting site. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has also taken out ads in […]

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Passenger association, union applaud Amtrak board nominations

Rail Passengers Association logo

WASHINGTON — The Rail Passengers Association and a major union reacted positively to nominations by President Joe Biden to fill five positions on the 10-member Amtrak board of directors. “America’s passengers asked President Biden to make the Amtrak Board a top priority, and he did,” Rail Passengers Association CEO Jim Mathews said in a press […]

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