Beech Mountain Railroad shuts down

ALEXANDER, W.Va — West Virginia’s Beech Mountain Railroad appears to have reached its final chapter. Owner Carter-Roag, a subsidiary of United Coal, has returned its two leased SW1500s to LTEX (also known as Larry’s Truck & Electric); those engines had been brought in to move the stockpile of coal remaining after the closure of Carter-Roag’s […]

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Preliminary report: NS engineer was killed when locomotive was hit by rolling railcars

Diagram of accident in rail yard

WASHINGTON — The Norfolk Southern engineer killed in a Jan. 31 incident in Decatur, Ala., suffered fatal injuries when his locomotive was struck by a group of 35 railcars rolling on an adjacent track, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary accident report released today (Wednesday, Feb. 28). The incident occurred about 4:15 […]

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Metra project underway to increase speeds on Electric District

Metra_Flossmoor_Lassen

CHICAGO — Jim Derwinski hates the phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” At a Wednesday presentation for Northwestern University’s Sandhouse Rail Group, Derwinski, Metra’s CEO/Executive Director, illustrated why that’s the case, and the potential that comes from putting that approach in the past. “Here’s a little story about where we’re not going to […]

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Fixed forward and backward seating to speed Northeast Regional equipment turns, allow more frequencies

Interior of passenger car with seats facing toward the car center

WASHINGTON — Coaches where half of the seats face backwards have been standard for years on Amtrak services ranging from many regional state-supported corridors to Acela First Class. Beginning March 2, that configuration is being extended to all Northeast Regional Amfleet-equipped trains. Acela Business Class will transition to permanent “fixed forward and backward” seating later […]

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Worker fatigue led to track-protection error in Caltrain accident, NTSB determines

Train on fire with plume of black smoke

WASHINGTON — An error in which the worker in charge released track occupancy protection — “due to degraded performance from his excessive workload” — led to a March 2022 incident in which a Caltrain commuter train struck three hi-rail construction vehicles, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a final accident report released on Tuesday, […]

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MTA details projects at risk without congestion pricing funds

Long Island Rail Road train arrives at station

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had previously announced it was placing much of its capital spending on hold because of uncertainty over implementation of Manhattan’s congestion pricing plan, on Monday detailed the projects at risk while the lawsuits against congestion pricing are pending. Congestion pricing, intended to discourage driving in Manhattan below […]

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Buffett praises railroaders, says he expects BNSF profit margins to improve

Buffett_BNSF

OMAHA, Neb. — Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett’s widely read annual letter to investors, released on Saturday alongside the company’s 2023 financial results, included a long passage on railroads in general and BNSF Railway in particular. BNSF’s revenue and profits fell last year, which Buffett termed a disappointment. But he noted that the national labor […]

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BNSF revenue and profits tumble amid volume decline

two BNSF orange trains

OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s revenue and profits tumbled in 2023 due to a combination of lower volume and lower revenue per carload and intermodal unit. Pre-tax earnings declined 14.2%, to $6.6 billion, as revenue declined 6.9%, to $23.4 billion, BNSF parent company Berkshire Hathaway reported on Saturday. The railway’s operating ratio increased 2.5 points […]

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