OTTAWA, Ontario — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City have rejected a Teamsters Canada Rail Conference proposal to stagger negotiations with both railways by two weeks. The union — which represents engineers and conductors on both railways, as well as rail traffic controllers on CPKC — said that staggering contract talks would avoid simultaneous […]
LOS ANGELES — Metrolink and CEO Darren Kettle have agreed to a five-year contract extension, the commuter rail operator announced on Thursday. The Metrolink board of directors unanimously agreed to the extension, which runs through September 2029, on May 24. Kettle, formerly executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission — one of the five […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway said today that it had formally offered binding arbitration to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference in an effort to reach a new contract. The labor union turned down the offer, made earlier this week, CN said in an update on the dispute between the railroad and its operating crews. CPKC […]
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Genesee & Wyoming regional Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad commemorated its 10th anniversary with celebrations at the 743-mile railroad’s yards in Rapid City, Pierre, and Huron this week. “When our crews started up operations in June 2014, they were facing a tremendous backlog of grain from the 2013 harvest and […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic was up 1% in May over the same month in 2023, the fourth straight month of modest gains over the previous year, according to the Association of American Railroads. Traffic for the week ending June 1 was also up over the same week a year earlier. May volume included a […]
WASHINGTON — First-term U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pittsburgh) has been named to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for the remainder of the current term, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has announced. Deluzio fills the vacancy created by the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), who had been the ranking member of the […]
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has blocked plans to begin congestion-pricing tolling for vehicles entering lower Manhattan, postponing indefinitely the start of a program opposed by commuters and other groups but blowing a hole in the financial plans of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Assessment of the tolls — which include a $15 […]
Norfolk Southern and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority are in preliminary talks on a deal that would expand passenger rail service while also preserving critical freight connections. While negotiations are in early stages, the framework of an agreement would allow VPRA to purchase the Manassas Line and pursue an option to extend passenger rail service […]
Watco recently began operating its 46th short line, the 3-mile Verdigris Southern Railroad (VESO) that serves the Port of Inola in Oklahoma. VESO serves one customer at the inland port, paper products company Sofidel America. Sofidel’s paper mill received its first seven boxcars of compressed wood pulp in mid-April, Watco reports in its June newsletter. […]
ATLANTA — After the turmoil of Norfolk Southern’s proxy fight against an activist investor last month, the railroad’s Stefan Loeb says the shareholders’ vote showed confidence in management’s strategy. While board chair Amy Miles lost her position, Norfolk Southern’s management mainly prevailed in the vote to retain control of the Class 1 railroad, with Ancora […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The CSX heritage locomotive fleet has grown to 15 with the addition of a locomotive honoring the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie. CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs released the first photos of the unit, No. 1875, on LinkedIn this afternoon. “Another great job by our ONE CSX team in Waycross, GA. Founded in 1875 […]
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. — Southern California commuter rail operator Metrolink has debuted new “smart crossing” technology at a San Juan Capistrano grade crossing, seeking to eliminate the activation of crossing gates when a train approaches a station and stops before reaching the crossing. The technology, known as a Wireless Crossing Nearside Station Stop, was made […]
