CHICAGO — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a quality-of-life agreement with the Belt Railway of Chicago, the union has announced. Through the agreement, members of the union will for the first time have pald sick days and access to the company’s 401K program. In addition to receiving up to […]
CHICAGO — J.D. Danton’s shift at Metra’s 16th Street Tower on Friday night and Saturday morning (April 11-12, 2025) was certainly nothing new. And yet, the dilapidated structure had never seen anything like it — and never will again. Danton was the operator on duty when the interlocking tower dating to 1901 relinquished its control […]
DENVER — There’s a pachyderm of a quandary haunting the executive conference rooms of Class I railroads, and short lines may be the solution. Carload volumes have been falling since 2008-2009, almost a generation’s worth of declines that began with the global financial crisis and accelerated during the fall of coal and the hollowing out […]
WASHINGTON — Railroads and retailers are praising a bipartisan bill in Congress that aims to reduce cargo theft. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which was introduced yesterday, would create a coordinated federal response to a rising wave of sophisticated cargo thefts, many of which target consumer goods in containers carried on double-stack trains. “Organized […]
The trade war between the U.S. and China has prompted a Utah iron ore mine to shut down, a move that at least temporarily ends Union Pacific unit train operations between Cedar City, Utah, and the Port of Long Beach, Calif. Utah Iron LLC announced on Wednesday that it would close the Cedar City mine […]
MAMMOTH SPRING, Ark. — BNSF has reopened its Thayer South Subdivision through Arkansas, just five days after a bridge washed out under a stopped train. A new bridge over the Warm Fork Spring River in Mammoth Spring State Park was completed on Thursday morning, April 10, after around-the-clock work. The opening came some 24 hours […]
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky is awarding more than $3.6 million in state grants under two programs to help fund rail infrastructure projects. The grants, announced Thursday, April 10, include more than $2 million under the Kentucky Industrial Access and Safety Improvements program, which provides 50% of funding for construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of rail lines, […]
WASHINGTON— The Federal Railroad Administration should promote track and equipment inspection technology innovation by overhauling its safety waiver review process, according to a think tank that focuses on infrastructure issues. The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure says the FRA’s safety waiver process has been bogged down by outdated rules and political interference. The group examined […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — The Stockton Diamond Grade Separation project, which seeks to eliminate an at-grade crossing of BNSF and Union Pacific main lines, has received $14 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding. The funding has been approved by the San Joaquin Council of Governments, or SJCOG “The last thing our farmers and […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. weekly rail traffic remained ahead of 2024 levels in the week ending April 5, the sixth straight week of such gains and just the second showing a double-digit increase. According to information from the Association of American Railroads, volume for the week was 500,584 carloads and intermodal units, an 11.2% increase over […]
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The continuing work to restore service on Norfolk Southern’s line into Asheville reached a milestone on Tuesday (April 8) as an NS ballast train became the first train to reach Asheville since it was closed Sept. 27, 2024, by Hurricane Helene. More than 21,500 feet of track was washed out, and another […]
CHICAGO — Today (April 9) is the last day for the early-bird registration fee for the North American Rail Shippers conference, to be held May 7-9 in Chicago. CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs leads the list of speakers scheduled to take part in the North American Rail Shippers Conference, set for May 7-9 in Chicago. The […]
