Monday morning rail news in brief:
Protesters briefly block NS line in North Carolina
Norfolk Southern suspended operations through Greensboro, N.C., Saturday night and early Sunday morning because of protesters blocking its tracks, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. Local officials contacted the railroad about 10:30 p.m. and requested that it stop traffic because demonstrators were sitting on the tracks in downtown Greensboro. NS spokesman Martin Wattenbarger said operations resumed about 3:15 a.m., and that there were no reported incidents involving trains or crews.
UP DeSoto car shop to remain closed in June
Union Pacific has extended its shutdown of the DeSoto, Mo., car shops until at least the end of June. Leader Publications reports that furloughed workers were informed in a letter that the status of the shops would be reviewed again on June 22 to determine if they would reopen on July 1. The shops, along with a locomotive facility in North Little Rock, Ark., and a maintenance center in Denver, were shut down in early May because of the COVID-19 related business downturn. [See “Union Pacific closes Little Rock locomotive shop …,” News Wire Digest, May 3, 2020].
Online breach for Amtrak Guest Rewards
Amtrak’s Guest Rewards suffered a security breach in April that may exposed the personal information and passwords of users, Infosecurity Magazine reports. In a filing with the office of the Vermont Attorney General, the passenger railroad said it stopped the unauthorized entry within a few hours, reset passwords for affected accounts, and hired outside security experts to put new safeguards in place. It is also offering customers a free-one year membership in a fraud monitoring service.
