RYDE, England — Railcars originally built for London’s “Tube” subway during World War II but still in service are about to be retired. The 80-year-old trains are used on the railway on the Isle of Wight — a large island just off England’s south coast near the naval port city of Portsmouth. In January 2021 […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s third-quarter revenue and earnings declined, but cost-cutting and efficiency gains — particularly from running longer trains — helped the railroad produce a new record-low operating ratio. Operating income fell 9%, to $2 billion, as revenue declined 11%, to $4.9 billion, UP announced on Thursday morning. Earnings per share declined 9%, to $2.01. […]
NORFOLK, Va. — A consortium of railroads and freight car companies are combining on a new venture to create advanced monitoring of the North American railcar fleet through GPS and other technologies. Rail Pulse is an effort involving Norfolk Southern, GATX Corporation, Trinity Rail, and shortline holding companies Genesee & Wyoming and Watco Companies. A Norfolk […]
More Thursday midday rail news: NJ Transit board approves $2.6 billion operating budget NJ Transit’s board has approved a $2.6 billion operating budget for 2021 — a figure representing a 10% increase made possible by coronavirus relief funds. NorthJersey.com reports some $955 in federal CARES act funding will help offset $860 million in revenue losses from decreased […]
Thursday morning rail news: Kentucky Steam facility to be centerpiece of development effort A former CSX Transportation rail yard in Estill County, Ky., owned by Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. will be turned into a multipurpose development featuring food, arts, music, and a heritage rail facility. With the help of a $120,000 contribution by the Commonwealth […]
Thursday midday rail news: InnoTrans trade show scraps rescheduled event, will return in 2022 InnoTrans, the world’s largest rail trade fair, has scrapped its rescheduled 2021 event, citing the constantly changing coronavirus situation and resulting lack of certainty for planning. The every-other-year event in Berlin will next be held on its regularly scheduled dates of […]
MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada will resume service on the Vancouver-Winnipeg portion of the route of its flagship train, the Canadian, as of Dec. 11. In a Tuesday press release announcing the service, the passenger operator said it would offer one round trip per week between those cities, while observing health and safety measures including social distancing, […]
WASHINGTON — Overall U.S. rail traffic continues to show an increase over 2019 thanks to intermodal volume, while carload traffic remains down, according to figures released Wednesday by the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Oct. 17, combined traffic was 518,763 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.2% compared to the same week in 2019. There […]
Four Republican Congressmen have sent a letter to Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn questioning whether the September campaign train of Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden “redirected Amtrak’s scarce resources” and requesting — by the day before the Nov. 3 presidential election — details on what the train cost Amtrak to operate and what the Biden campaign […]
Wednesday morning rail news: DC Metro tampered with evidence of train separation, safety commission says Evidence relating to the separation of a moving DC Metro train earlier this month was tampered with during the investigation, according to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. The Washington Post reports that between the initial investigation incident on Oct. 9 and the […]
Wednesday midday rail news: NJ Transit to change plans for rail power plant Bowing to a series of protests from environmental groups and neighboring communities, NJ Transit will change its plans for a power plant to provide backup power to its rail system. NJ.com reports the Transitgrid project, which was to be a natural gas plant, will […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s third-quarter earnings sagged under the weight of pandemic-related traffic and revenue declines. The railroad’s operating income fell 11%, to $1.1 billion, as revenue declined 11%, to $2.6 billion. Earnings per share slumped 11%, to 96 cents. The railroad’s operating ratio was 56.9%, a 0.1-point increase compared to the quarterly record […]
