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 […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is projecting fiscal 2021 ridership of just 9 million, a 72% decline from 2019’s record 32.5 million passengers, CEO William Flynn told members of the Senate Commerce Committee, who expressed skepticism and concern over the move to three-day-a-week service for most long-distance trains. In testimony submitted Wednesday morning, Flynn qualifies his estimate […]
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Tuesday morning rail news: FreightCar America to move production to new factory in Mexico, secures $40 million loan Rail equipment manufacturer FreightCar America will shift all manufacturing to Mexico as part of moves announced Monday. The company has completed purchase of its partner’s 50% interest and now is sole owner of its new Castanos, Mexico, […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific aims to control its own destiny by purchasing the Detroit River Rail Tunnel, a key link in its route connecting Chicago with Toronto, Montreal, and Eastern Canada. The $312 million deal, announced last week and subject to regulatory approval, will for the first time give CP full ownership of the […]
