SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane International Airport has received an $11.3-million grant to build a rail transload facility with the goal of attracting aerospace and other industries. The BUILD Grant — for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development — from the U.S. Department of Transportation will extend an BNSF Railway existing rail spur by 3 miles […]
UP says more layoffs coming as traffic declines NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — More layoffs are coming at Union Pacific as traffic volume continues to fall amid global trade disputes, tougher competition from trucks, and the ongoing slide in coal. By the end of the year, UP expects its workforce to be at least 18% below the levels of the fourth quarter of 2018, Jennifer Hamann, […]
Trains Photo Contest 2020: In the City
2019 Grand Prize: Ben Duncan This photograph captures my perceptions of American westward expansion. It creates a tension between ideas of East and West, past and future, static and dynamic, confinement and freedom. Taken on my first visit to the western United States, it depicts the Sumpter Valley Railroad, which runs close to one of […]
Big Boy, Bush 4141 diesel will lock couplers Friday NEWSWIRE
Union Pacific’s George H.W. Bush Presidential Library commemorative unit, No. 4141, seen here at Butler, Wis., in June, will be in Big Boy No. 4014’s consist Friday. Trains: Jim Wrinn BRYAN, Texas — Two of the most celebrated locomotives of our age — Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 and Union Pacific’s George H.W. Bush […]
CSX Transportation CEO says railroad is regaining business from trucks NEWSWIRE
CSX CEO James Foote CSX CHICAGO — Service improvements at CSX Transportation are translating into merchandise volume gains and the diversion of freight off highways, CEO Jim Foote told an investor conference on Wednesday. CSX has become the safest and most efficient railroad in the U.S., Foote says, and its on-time performance has improved dramatically […]
FRA offers $24 million in grants for passenger service NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is soliciting applications for $24 million in grant funding to “initiate, restore, or enhance intercity passenger rail service.” The funds are part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation act, and can be applied to operating assistance including staffing, administrative costs, host-railroad access costs, station expenses, and lease payments on […]
High speed rail conference convenes at Microsoft headquarters
REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp.’s corporate campus in the Seattle suburb of Redmond is miles from rail lines hosting regular passenger-train service. But that corporate campus will be, for three days beginning today [Nov. 6], the focal point of the high-speed passenger rail universe. The Cascadia Rail Summit convenes with U.S. High Speed Rail and Microsoft […]
Houston area passes $3.5-billion transit bond issue (updated) NEWSWIRE
Houston-area voters have approved a bond measure which includes expansion of the city’s light rail system. Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Harris County HOUSTON — Voters offered resounding support for a bond issue for the Houston area’s Metro Transit Authority on Tuesday, with more than two-thirds voting in favor of the $3.5 billion issue. Proposition A […]
Indiana shortline unveils locomotive in Illinois Terminal-inspired paint NEWSWIRE
No. 5255 switches a customer Fernald, Ohio, on Nov. 4, 2019. David T. Rohdenburg COTTAGE GROVE, Ind. — Seeing a former Southern Railway high short hood EMD GP38-2 in any paint scheme other than the Southern’s black, white and gold “tuxedo” paint scheme or Norfolk Southern’s simple black and white dress is certainly a rare […]
Moody’s revises view on railroads to ‘negative’ NEWSWIRE
A CSX intermodal train negotiates the diamonds at Blue Island, Ill., in September 2019. Increased truck competition for intermodal traffic is one of many factors that has led Moody’s to downgrade its rating of the rail industry. TRAINS: David Lassen NEW YORK — Moody’s Investors Service last week described the outlook for North American railroads […]
Texas State Railroad to host Trains Magazine photo charter NEWSWIRE
Texas State Railroad’s Tremont & Gulf No. 30 will perform for Trains in May. Kevin Gilliam PALESTINE, TEXAS — Trains Magazine and the Texas State Railroad will offer a weekend with a 1920s steam freight train May 2-3. The event is designed primarily for photography but will also appeal to anyone interested in history, short […]
US carloads, intermodal dip for October 2019 NEWSWIRE
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 2, 2019, as well as volumes for October 2019. U.S. railroads originated 1,224,477 carloads in October 2019, down 8.4 percent, or 112,703 carloads, from October 2018. U.S. railroads also originated 1,331,944 containers and […]
