ST. LOUIS – Intramotev, which is converting standard freight cars into autonomous rail vehicles, says it has successfully deployed the world’s first self-propelled battery-electric railcar in a traditional freight train. In what Intramotev called a major step forward for sustainable freight transportation, the company’s ReVolt hopper has run more than 1,000 miles making trips between […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern today delivered the first coal train diverted from the closed Port of Baltimore to the railroad’s Lambert’s Point coal terminal in Norfolk, Va. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge following a March 26 strike by a container ship blocked access to the NS-served Consol coal terminal. “At Norfolk Southern, […]
BALTIMORE — Amtrak has selected Advance, a joint venture by infrastructure firms AECOM and Jacobs, to manage oversight of design, construction, contract management, administrative support, and other aspects of the $6 billion Frederick Douglass Tunnel project. The project includes replacement of the nearly 150-year old, 1.4-mile B&P tunnel, a major bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor, […]
STUART, Fla. — Design work and other preparations for the new Florida East Coast/Brightline bridge over the St. Lucie River in Stuart are under way, the TC Palm newspaper reports, while FEC seeks a federal grant to address the $31.5 million grant to address the unfunded portion of the $218 million project. The current Stuart […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has acquired Great Lakes Reload’s Chicago transload warehouse facility, which handles inbound loads of steel and outbound loads of agricultural and construction equipment. NS said the deal, announced on Tuesday, advances its strategy to convert so-called flexible freight to rail. Flexible freight can move via truck or rail. “Transloading solutions play […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National is acquiring 600 new iron ore jennies for its former Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway operation in Minnesota. Freight Car America is building the cars in Mexico using materials from U.S. Steel, the onetime owner of DM&IR. CN transports iron ore pellets mined by U. S. Steel to the company’s […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern’s primary passenger execursion routes may lead to Jim Thorpe, Pa., but the company is also offering trips this year to destinations including Pottsville, Tamaqua, and Minersville from its Reading Outer Station. Pottsville excursions are set for April 13, May 11, June 8, Aug. 17, and Sept. 14. Those trips […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is seeking a developer to serve as master tenant to fill the 25,000 square feet of retail and dining space at Grand Central Madison, the Long Island Railroad Terminal in Manhattan that opened in 2023. “This is an amazing opportunity for the right operator: 25,000 square feet of […]
Tony Koester’s “Trains of Thought” column in our May 2024 issue, about the Norfolk & Western (formerly Wabash) Detroit car float terminal, inspired me to sketch up a track plan for a rail-marine Free-Mo module. I’ve written before about the Free-Mo modular standard and designing a Free-Mo module, a variant of which became Freemont Mills, […]
MEXICO CITY — A loose clamp on a switch led to the Maya Train derailment at the Tixkokob station on March 25, Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense said during a presidential press conference today. The incident involved the fourth car of a train en route from Campeche to Cancún, which derailed as the train entered […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have approved Savage Tooele Railroad’s proposal to build and operate 11 miles of trackage in Utah. Savage Tooele aims to revive Union Pacific’s former 6-mile Warner Branch, restore a quarter mile of ripped-up track, and build 5 miles of new track in the Lakeview Business Park, which is being developed in […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today issued its new final rule generally requiring two-person crews on trains, which it says “enhances safety” and industry group the Association of American Railroads immediately blasted as “unfounded and unnecessary.” The 223-page final rule requires two-person crews except for certain operations “that do not pose significant safety risks […]
