Broken rail caused 2021 CP potash derailment, TSB determines

Cleanup of derailment scene

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — An undetected rail flaw that led to a broken rail as the train passed over it caused the derailment of a Canadian Pacific potash train at Silton, Saskatchewan in October 2021, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in an investigation report released today (Tuesday, March 26). The incident occurred at 5:02 […]

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BNSF continuing cleanup after Monday derailment in New Mexico

BNSF Railway logo

SOCORRO, N.M. — BNSF Railway is estimating it will reopen its main line at approximately 7 a.m. local time Wednesday after a Monday, March 25, derailment of an undetermined number of railcars near Socorro. The railroad indicated in an advisory to customers that the derailment occurred about 10 p.m. KOB-TV reports that no one was […]

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NTSB looks at NS rules, procedures, and training as investigation of three-train Pennsylvania incident continues

Scene of three-train derailment along river

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board is looking at Norfolk Southern rules, procedures, and crew training relating to train handling as it continues its investigation into the collision and derailment involving three trains that occurred March 2 in Lower Saucon Township, Pa., according to the preliminary investigation report issued today (Tuesday, March 26). The […]

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Activist investor group would put Norfolk Southern back on PSR path, reduce operating ratio to 57%

Black diesels with high short hoods work at yard

CLEVELAND — An activist investor group says its proposed Norfolk Southern management team would improve the railroad’s operations, service, and profitability by jettisoning CEO Alan Shaw’s resilience strategy and adopting the low-cost Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. In a letter to shareholders today, Ancora Holdings says its plan for NS would cut costs, focus on […]

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Union Railroad buys land at former steel plant for transload facility

Map of the Union Railroad

DUQUESNE, Pa. — Pittsburgh’s Union Railroad is buying 13 acres of the former U.S. Steel Duquesne Works to develop a transload facility, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The railroad purchased the land from the Regional Industrial Development Corp. for $400,000 to develop a facility for truck-to-rail and rail-to-truck transloading, according to the development agency’s president, Don […]

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Canadian government to fund rail project at Port of Montreal

Containers on dock at port

MONTREAL — The Canadian government will fund a C$16.75 million project to improve rail access and add storage at the Port of Montreal, Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Monday, March 25. The project will include rehabilitation of, and adding a fourth track to, the Pie-IX rail bridge, along with adding a storage area, which Transport […]

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Maya Train experiences low-speed derailment

Map of the Maya Train route

TIXKOKOB, Mexico — Mexico’s Maya Train experienced its first known derailment today (Monday, March 25), a low-speed incident when the last car of a four-car trainset apparently split a switch entering the Tixkokob station on the route between Campeche and Cancún. The derailment occurred about 9:30 a.m. with the train moving at about 10 kilometers […]

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CPKC, shipper urge STB to resolve Texas trackage rights dispute

red, yellow and other colors on a locomotive

WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City says it has shippers lined up to export grain through the ports of Houston and Galveston, but they’re awaiting a regulatory decision regarding whether unit trains can move over Union Pacific trackage rights south of Beaumont, Texas. CPKC told the Surface Transportation Board last week that it has four […]

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News photos: Final coal-fired train at Durango & Silverton

DURANGO, Colo. — The final chapter of the long history of coal-powered trains on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad came Saturday, March 23, with a round-trip excursion between Durango and Cascade, Colo., handled by a Baldwin Class K-36 2-8-2 No. 481. The locomotive will now be converted to oil firing, completing conversion of […]

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