Photo of the Day

20161215

Train time at Chadron, Nebr. Way out on Chicago & North Western’s lonely “Cowboy Line,” 4-6-2 No. 1588 arrives Chadron, Nebr., with daily-except-Sunday train 13 from Omaha, 447 miles to the east. The train is bound for Rapid City, S.Dak., 104 miles west. Fred H. Ragsdale photo […]

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Kansas City Southern boosts outlook as traffic rebounds

Kansas City Southern logo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern reinstated and boosted its outlook for the year as traffic volume has risen above pre-pandemic levels in recent weeks. The railway, which reported improved earnings on Friday morning, says it now expects slightly higher earnings per share this year and its operating ratio to should improve to around […]

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Digest: Port of Brownsville gets grant for grain project including rail improvements

More Thursday midday rail news: Brownville port receives grant for grain project; rail improvements included The Port of Brownsville, Texas, has received a $14.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration to upgrade its grain storage and loading facilities, the latest in a series of grants that will fund upgrades to port […]

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Digest: Dallas-Fort Worth transit agencies offer free rides for voters

More Wednesday morning rail news: Texas transit agencies offer free rides to voters Dallas-Fort Worth area transit agencies — the Denton County Transportation Authority, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and Trinity Metro — are the latest to announce they will provide free rides for people casting their ballot in the upcoming election. The DCTA and DART […]

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Digest: Amtrak to resume service to Holdrege, Neb.

Still more Friday morning rail news: Amtrak completes new platform, will resume stops in Holdrege, Neb. Amtrak’s California Zephyr will again stop in Holdrege, Neb., after an absence of several months after completion of a new station platform in the community. KHGI-TV reports that after the passenger railroad could no longer reach agreement with the owner of the 1910 […]

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Texas governor expresses ‘full support’ for Texas Central, then backtracks

Texas Central logo

DALLAS — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is backtracking from a letter telling Japan’s prime minister that the Texas Central high speed rail project has his full support after the group opposing the project released the letter and said the governor had been misled about the status of the project. The Dallas Morning News reports that Abbott, […]

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Texas terminal

Texas terminal

Just after the turn of the 20th century, large terminal elevators began to appear. Grain gathered in these mammoth concrete structures (the one here holds 3.6 million bushels) at Amarillo, Texas, in 1943, is forwarded by rail to mills and to port elevators for export. Note the three boxcars for scale. Photo by Jack Delano, […]

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Digest: Watco makes bid for one South Dakota rail line; current operator to buy another

Thursday morning rail news: Watco offers to buy state-owned route in South Dakota; state agrees to D&I purchase of Sioux Valley line Shortline holding company Watco is willing to pay up to $13 million to buy a line between Mitchell and Rapid City, S.D., from the state of South Dakota, a Watco representative told the […]

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Potential Kansas City Southern suitors have invested in railroads before

Red, black, and yello locomotives pulling train across bridge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The two infrastructure funds that are reportedly teaming up to acquire Kansas City Southern are no strangers to the railroad industry. Blackstone Group owned Chicago & North Western in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It also owned Great Lakes Transportation, a collection of former U.S. Steel transportation companies that included […]

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