Friday morning tourist railroad and preservation news: North Carolina Transportation Museum to host weekend of 611 events The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C., will host two special tours and a nighttime photo session featuring Norfolk & Western Class J No. 611 Sept. 18-20. The Fired Up Behind The Scenes Tour, on Sept. 18, […]
Local officials have begun announcing the award of U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD grants). Rail-related projects announced so far include: — $24.9 million to Lexington, N.C., to build a new train and bus station. The Lexington Dispatch reports the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development grant also provides money […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National’s traffic is accelerating back to normal levels, driven by strong growth in intermodal, grain, lumber, and frac sand traffic. “We are clearly seeing a recovery happening,” Chief Financial Officer Ghislain Houle told an investor conference on Thursday. Last week the railway’s domestic intermodal volume was up 30%, international intermodal gained 19%, […]
ORBISONIA, Pa. — The revitalized East Broad Top Railroad has announced several fall events, offering visitors several opportunities to visit the railroad, ride trains and enjoy a barbecue dinner. On Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19, 90-minute guided tours of the East Broad Top shops complex will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2 […]
CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific executives touted strong domestic intermodal growth during an investor conference today, noting that volumes are now running above pre-pandemic levels. UP’s intermodal traffic is up nearly 8% so far in the third quarter, boosted by double-digit percentage growth in parcel and truckload shipments due to e-commerce and the […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak President William Flynn has told members of Congress that the company needs a $4.9 billion appropriation for fiscal 2021 to avoid employee furloughs and reduced long-distance train frequencies planned for October. Flynn, Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews, and labor officials representing the Transport Workers Union and Transportation Communications Union […]
WASHINGTON — Former Amtrak president David Gunn believes the company’s plans to cut most long-distance trains to triweekly operation beginning in October will lead to a permanent reduction in serviceable rolling stock, and cost the company employees with the expertise necessary to run the system in the future. “If you want to preserve the network, […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has cut more than 60 dispatching positions at its Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha and its joint dispatching office in Spring, Texas, this week. The affected dispatchers, who are management employees, were notified on Thursday and Friday that their jobs were being eliminated, according to a person familiar with the […]
WASHINGTON — Environmental planning has been completed for the Long Bridge Project to build a new rail bridge across the Potomac River, addressing a major capacity bottleneck for freight and passenger service through the District of Columbia and Virginia. The project will add a second two-track rail bridge adjacent to the current bridge, which currently […]
Friday morning preservation news: Northwest Railway Museum to reopen Train Shed Exhibit Hall The Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Wash., will reopen its Train Shed Exhibit Hall on Sept. 11, which had been closed because of COVID-19 pandemic measures. The museum says the 24,000-square-foot hall includes many of its most significant artifacts. The museum is […]
Friday morning rail news: CN, CP call Saskatoon shared-main proposal ‘unworkable’ The proposal by the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to have Canadian National and Canadian Pacific share a rail corridor through the city to decrease traffic disruptions has been shot down by both railroads. CTV News reports both railroads sent letters to City Manager Jeff […]
More Friday morning rail news: Canadian government sets rules for in-cab voice, video recorders Most railroads in Canada have two years to install “black box” video and voice recorders on their locomotives according to regulations published by the Canadian government, a requirement that has a rail union voicing concerns about worker privacy. The CBC reports […]
