House rail safety hearing highlights new legislation

Man holding papers during hearing

WASHINGTON — Legislators used a House subcommittee hearing on railroad safety today (Tuesday, July 23) to highlight a new rail safety bill, while committee members and witnesses including regulators, union representatives, and the House member representing East Palestine questioned the rail industry’s own safety efforts. The revised bill, the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 8996), […]

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Threat of Canadian rail strike hurts Canadian National’s quarterly earnings

MONTREAL — Canadian National today (Tuesday, July 23) lowered its financial outlook for the year as volume growth slowed during the second quarter, due to slumping lumber traffic and the impact of shippers diverting international intermodal containers to U.S. ports in anticipation of a potential rail strike in Canada. CN’s second-quarter operating income declined 3%, […]

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CSX unveils heritage locomotive celebrating Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad

CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs today unveiled the railroad’s 17th heritage locomotive, which pays homage to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. “Another great job by our ONE CSX team in Waycross, Georgia. Founded in 1877, C&EI Railroad connected Chicago with southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville, IN. In the 1960’s C&EI was purchased by both […]

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Wildfire shuts down CN main line through Jasper, Alberta (updated)

Canadian National has turned a flatcar, two tank cars, and a track maintenance vehicle into a firefighting train, dubbed "Poseidon," fighting Alberta widefires. CN

MONTREAL – The busiest section of the Canadian National main line is shut down today due to a fast-moving wildfire in Jasper, Alberta. Officials ordered an evacuation of Jasper as well as visitors to Jasper National Park overnight as the fire spread and left only a westbound escape route out of town, according to Canada’s […]

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MxV Rail first responder training center expands to include scenarios involving alternative fuels and electric vehicles

PUEBLO, Colo. — MxV Rail’s Security and Emergency Response Training Center is expanding to include first responder training for incidents involving alternative fuels and electric vehicles. SERTC will begin offering the new training in November thanks to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, MxV Rail announced on Monday. SERTC recently broke ground on a […]

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T&E headcount is up from a year ago, but below 2019 as railroads dial in performance, growth: Analysis

Crew member stands by tracks as trains pass in desert landscape.

First of two parts.  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Navigating macroeconomic headwinds and steep declines in coal, three of the big four U.S. railroads now employ more engineers and conductors than they did a year ago, but headcount is still mostly below pre-pandemic 2019. Railroads are =using new hires to improve service performance and grow future business […]

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CN fined C$8 million over spills from 2015 derailments

Canadian National logo

TIMMONS, Ontario — Canadian National Railway must pay C$8 million in fines as a result of oil spills stemming from a pair of 2015 derailments in Northern Ontario, a Canadian court has ruled. The CBC reports that the Ontario Court of Justice ordered the fines for environmental violations stemming from a Feb. 14, 2015, derailment […]

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Reading & Northern promotes Busher to vice-president, real estate

Head shot of woman with long hair

PORT CLINTON, Pa. — The Reading & Northern has promoted Jolene Busher, who began with the company as a part-time passenger car attendant in 2007, to vice-president, real estate. Busher’s path to her current position promotions through the passenger department to become manager of the private car fleet for the Muller family, owners of the […]

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Witness list set for House subcommittee hearing on rail safety

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — The Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure has released the list of witnesses scheduled to appear in its Tuesday hearing on railroad safety — and no one representing a railroad or rail-industry group is among the seven people on the agenda. The hearing, “Examining the […]

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NTSB issues report on NS conductor death in grade crossing accident

WASHINGTON — The probable cause of a grade crossing collision that killed a Norfolk Southern conductor in Cleveland last year was the crew’s failure to follow a railroad rule requiring a member of the crew to be on the ground at the private crossing, the National Transportation Safety Board said today. The conductor of NS […]

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FRA report on East Palestine derailment differs slightly from NTSB analysis

Fire along railroad track at derailment site

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration’s report on the Norfolk Southern hazardous materials derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, reached the same conclusions as the National Transportation Safety Board’s broader and more exhaustive probe. But the FRA report, released on Friday afternoon, did contain some key differences. First, the FRA did not comment on the post-derailment […]

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Global tech outage largely bypasses freight and passenger railroads

Passenger train at station with pedestrian walkway above tracks

U.S. and Canadian railroads appear to be relatively unaffected by the global tech outage that grounded flights and disrupted businesses today, although Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Kansas City did experience some computer issues. “The CrowdStrike software outage has had varying levels of impact across Union Pacific’s network,” spokeswoman Clarissa Beyah said on Friday morning. […]

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