WASHINGTON — The merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern may be a union of two freight railroads, but it is likely to matter for passenger railroading, as well. Amtrak had formally supported the railroads’ merger application before the Surface Transportation Board. That reflected CP’s backing for passenger operations between New Orleans and Baton […]
WASHINGTON — Commuter rail operator Metra and a group of Chicago suburbs received few of the conditions they had sought when the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger was approved on Wednesday. But that doesn’t mean their concerns couldn’t be addressed later, Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman said during a Wednesday press conference, thanks […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators today gave the green light to the historic merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern. Their $31.6 billion deal — thought to be the last merger between two Class I railroads — redraws the North American rail map by creating the first railroad linking Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The […]
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has asked the National Transportation Safety Board to expand its planned investigation into Norfolk Southern safety practices to cover all Class I railroads, the website Politico reports. The NTSB announced its plan to conduct a special investigation of NS — the first of a railroad since 2014 […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has reached agreements for paid sick time with members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, bringing to eight the number of unions to reach sick-leave agreements with the railroad. The latest agreements cover more than 1,350 employees. As with earlier agreements, they provide […]
WASHINGTON — A decision appears to be at hand in the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger. The Surface Transportation Board has announced a Wednesday press conference at 11 a.m. EDT in which board Chairman Martin Oberman will deliver remarks “regarding the agency’s decision on the proposed acquisition” of KCS by CP, followed by a Q&A […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has ratified a new five-year U.S. agreement with Canadian Pacific and its subsidiary Soo Line. The CP/Soo agreement is similar to the national agreement signed in 2022, including a 22% wage increase over the life of the contract, compounding to 24% over the life of […]
McPHERSON, Kan. — A broken wheel is believed to have caused Sunday’s derailment of a Union Pacific train in McPherson, leading to a spill of denatured alcohol, the Associated Press reports. The derailment Sunday morning ignited a small grass fire in addition to causing the alcohol spill [see “Union Pacific train derails …,” Trains News […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific today named longtime CSX Transportation executive Brian Barr as its senior vice president of transportation. Barr, who is currently senior vice president of network planning and services at CSX, will join UP on April 15. He will report to Eric Gehringer, UP’s executive vice president of operations. “Union Pacific has […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has named Richard Erstad and James (Leggett) Kitchin to the board’s Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council, the board announced Friday. Erstad, the vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Hawkins Inc., a chemical and ingredients company, joins the board representing small shippers. Kitchin, vice president for industrial products and coal […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has reached agreements with two more of its labor unions to provide their members with up to seven paid sick days per year. These agreements provide four new days of paid sick leave while also offering flexibility to use up to three additional days of existing paid time off as sick […]
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Brightline West, the planned high speed rail service between Las Vegas and Southern California, has announced agreements with buildings trades groups in California and Southern Nevada to ensure the rail project is built with union labor. The memorandum of understanding with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and […]
