Shortline savior North Carolina’s Laurinburg & Southern was a GE 70-tonner bastion in the Southeast. A pair works Dixie Guano in Laurinburg in September 1984. The GE small locomotive line enabled great savings for short lines that adopted them, keeping some of them running for years longer than if powered by steam. Jim Wrinn photo […]
CHICAGO – The North American Rail Shippers Association annual meeting, scheduled for Sept. 7-9 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago, will feature presentations from four Class I railroad chief executives. Confirmed speakers include BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer, Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz, Kansas City Southern CEO Pat Ottensmeyer, and Canadian National CEO JJ Ruest. Surface […]
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastruture has voiced his opposition to a voting trust while regulators consider the proposed merger of Canadian National and Kansas City Southern. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in a Monday letter to the Surface Transportation Board that the trust would “reduce competition and prejudice […]
Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific have released details of their plans to address greenhouse gas emissions, with NS aiming for a 42% reduction by 2034, while CP has set a goal of reducing locomotive emissions by more than 38% by 2030, along with a reduction from non-locomotive operations by more than 27%. The NS figure […]
Union Pacific has posted photos to its Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts showing a firefighting train at work on the bridge at the famous Keddie Wye on its ex-Western Pacific Feather River Canyon route, with the message: “Thanks to our crews on our fire trains, working tirelessly to help control fires in northern […]
SANDUSKY, Ohio – A 3-hour-plus drawbridge failure on Sunday afternoon (July 25) halted movements on Norfolk Southern’s busy Chicago Line and stranded marine traffic on Lake Erie’s Sandusky Bay. The bridge, a 1929 double-track rolling Scherzer-type drawbridge at MP 248 between Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio, was initially stuck in an up position, observers reported. But […]
NAISCOOT, Ontario — Two crew members were reported to have suffered minor injuries when a Canadian National train derailed late Saturday, reportedly after hitting a washout. CBC News reports a CN spokesman said a locomotive and 24 empty intermodal cars derailed on Canadian Pacific’s Parry Sound Subdivision; a Transportation Safety Board of Canada representative told […]
RICHMOND, Va. — Thirteen cars of a CSX Transportation coal train derailed in Richmond on Friday afternoon, reportedly sending some of the coal into the nearby James River. WRIC-TV reported the derailment occurred about 1:30 p.m. There were no injuries. Initial reports said the waterway was not affected, but drone footage on Saturday showed coal […]
Ice reefer innovation Attaching a portable precooling motor (right) with a belt to the shaft extension on the generator enabled the ice-cooled car’s own fans to precool a load while standing still. This helped keep ice-cooled cars cold when loading. Preco photo […]
LOS ANGELES — Union Pacific will resume international container shipments to Chicago from the West Coast at the end of its current seven-day suspension of such service, CEO Lance Fritz told Reuters on Thursday. “We’re starting to see containers clear, so I anticipate in the seven-day period … we should get back down to a […]
DEL MAR, Calif. — The North County Transit District has reached agreement with the city of Del Mar and the California Coastal Commission on plans for safety fencing on the rail line along the Del Mar bluffs, postponing and perhaps ending the NCTD’s request for action by the Surface Transportation Board. The San Diego Union-Tribune […]
WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman today asked the Class I railroads to provide information on congestion at inland intermodal terminals, where international containers are stacking up faster than customers can receive them. “I am particularly concerned about significant increases in container congestion at key U.S. terminals, and substantial charges being levied by […]
