CSX unveils Georgia Railroad heritage locomotive

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX’s 16th heritage locomotive honors the Georgia Railroad. The unit, No. 1834, was released yesterday at the railroad’s paint shop in Waycross, Ga. “Here is our 16th CSX Heritage Locomotive – the Georgia Railroad #1834. Founded in 1833, the company was originally the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the banking side […]

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Railroads pledge to make additional safety improvements based on NTSB East Palestine findings

Workers and equipment around burned out tank cars

The 31 new safety recommendations that the National Transportation Safety Board made yesterday in response to Norfolk Southern’s hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, have prompted a flurry of responses from the rail industry, lawmakers, and union leaders. The Feb. 3, 2023, derailment was caused by the failure of a wheel bearing on a […]

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Concrete tie maker to open plant in North Las Vegas

Logo of PCM Railone AG

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A German manufacturer of concrete railroad ties will open a factory in North Las Vegas to help supply the Brightline West project, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. PCM Railone AG, which production facilities in 12 countries, specializes in track systems and concrete ties for projects that go 186 mph or […]

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Hydrogen trainset arrives in San Bernardino, Calif.

Passenger train next to ornate Spanish-style station at night

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — More than 20 months after it was unveiled in Berlin and nine months after its U.S. debut, the first Stadler hydrogen-fuel-cell powered FLIRT H2 trainset has arrived in San Bernardino, where it will operate on Southern California’s Arrow commuter rail line. The first-of-its-kind trainset arrived on June 21, after leaving Pueblo, […]

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NTSB chair rips Norfolk Southern’s ‘unprecedented and reprehensible’ response to derailment probe

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy sharply criticized Norfolk Southern today for the way it responded to the board’s investigation of the Feb. 3, 2023, hazardous materials derailment in East Palestine. NS stonewalled board requests for information, ran its own probe on the side in violation of NTSB rules, and […]

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NTSB issues 31 new recommendations in wake of East Palestine wreck

Black cloud of smoke above town

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Norfolk Southern and its contractors should not have decided to vent and burn derailed tank cars carrying vinyl chloride three days after the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment in East Palestine, the National Transportation Safety Board said today (Tuesday, June 25). The five tank cars were among the 38 cars of train […]

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Supreme Court to review decision blocking Uinta Basin project

Map showing proposed rail route in Utah

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to review the appeals court ruling blocking construction of the Uinta Basin Railway, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last year struck down Surface Transportation Board approval of the 88-mile rail project in a remote portion of eastern Utah. […]

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RailState shines spotlight on Union Pacific and BNSF train length in Southwest

yellow locomotive in front of mountains

QUINCY, Mass. – RailState, which tabulates rail traffic using a network of sensors placed on public property along main lines, last week provided a snapshot of long trains rolling along BNSF Railway and Union Pacific in the Southwest. The longest train RailState spotted over a 10-day period this month: A five-locomotive UP stack train carrying […]

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BNSF bridge on South Dakota-Iowa state line collapses

Woman standing in front of collapsed railroad bridge and flooding-swollen river

NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. —  A portion of a BNSF Railway bridge connecting North Sioux City, S.D., and Sioux City, Iowa, collapsed Sunday night, as heavy rains and flooding continue to take a toll on the area. “We have been monitoring the region through our increased track inspections and had not been operating over the […]

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Federal government issues final rule requiring railroads to provide hazardous-material information to first responders

Black cloud of smoke above town

WASHINGTON — The federal government has issued its final rule requiring railroads to provide real-time electronic information on hazardous material to first responders in the event of a derailment or other incident. The rule from the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is one of many regulatory actions spurred by last year’s […]

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BNSF Railway adds wind screen on bridge in Abo Canyon

FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway’s engineering crews have added a 1,300-foot wind fence to block the pesky prevailing wind on a bridge in Abo Canyon on its Southern Transcon in New Mexico. The Clovis Subdivision bridge, at milepost 874.2 near the west end of the canyon, experiences more severe winds due to the terrain, […]

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NTSB sets schedule for public meeting, community sessions in East Palestine

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has detailed its plans for next week’s return to East Palestine, Ohio, for community meetings and a public meeting to approve its final report on last year’s Norfolk Southern derailment and toxic-chemical release. The board will hold community meetings June 24 and June 25 at East Palestine High […]

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