KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Santa Fe No. 5704, the SD45-2 locomotive cosmetically restored to its bicentennial paint scheme, will be displayed at Union Station Kansas City June 14-19 to coincide with the convention of the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society on those dates in Overland Park, Kan. The locomotive, which has been donated […]
WASHINGTON — The four largest U.S. Class I railroads have told federal regulators that their conductor training programs and hiring pipelines are full as they try to restore service to normal levels amid widespread crew shortages. The railroads’ service recovery plans, submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Friday as required, outlined the steps BNSF […]
WASHINGTON – The Class I railroads submitted their first batch of expanded performance metrics to federal regulators this week, including a snapshot of on-time performance data. The board on May 6 ordered the railroads to report the data beginning this week in response to shipper complaints and testimony delivered during two days of hearings last […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has modified its controversial Hi-Viz train crew attendance policy in response to employee feedback, but officials at two unions say the changes fall far short of what is needed. The changes, which take effect June 1, were announced in a video released on Friday. BNSF launched the policy in […]
MISSOULA, Mont. — BNSF Railway has joined the group seeking to restore passenger rail service in southern Montana, a move welcomed because of the railroad’s role as primary host railroad for the proposed service. The Missoula Current reports the railroad is now an ex officio member of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, which seeks […]
WASHINGTON – For the week ended May 7, U.S. rail traffic registered 504,927 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.5% decline over the same period in 2021. Figures from the Association of American Railroads show the total number of carloads at 231,737, down 1.9% over the same week in 2021, while intermodal volume was 273,190 containers […]
KANSAS CITY — Service and labor issues are generally the defining issues for current public appearances by railroad officials, and so it was Tuesday when BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer spoke to the North American Rail Shippers conference. Less than two weeks after officials from BNSF and other Class I railroads were called to testify […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — The state of North Dakota has declined for a second time to issue an opinion on the ownership of the Bismarck-Mandan rail bridge, and the U.S. Coast Guard is indicating it will move ahead with the process which would allow BNSF Railway to demolish and replace the bridge. The Bismarck Tribune reports […]
OTTAWA, Ontario – Class I railroads operating in Canada would be required to report additional performance and staffing metrics under a proposal Canadian regulators unveiled on Friday. Transport Canada’s move was announced on the same day that the Surface Transportation Board said it will temporarily require the big railroads to provide more detailed operational and […]
St. Louis-San Francisco passenger trains are part of Classic Trains‘ editors’ celebration of the Frisco all through May 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Frisco passenger trains selected from Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Since October 2019, Classic Trains’ editors have celebrated a different Fallen Flag, that is, a Class I railroad that […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have ordered Class I railroads to provide more detailed operational and staffing metrics and will require the big four U.S. systems to submit service recovery plans in light of widespread service problems that were spotlighted during hearings last week. The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision issued on Friday, said “immediate […]
WASHINGTON — A Nebraska utility says it will file a rate complaint against Union Pacific for a reciprocal switch involving unit coal trains interchanged with BNSF Railway a few miles from the power plant. The Omaha Public Power District disclosed its plans to challenge the reasonableness of UP’s rates in a regulatory filing with the […]
