WASHINGTON — At an event with Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced that it will award $2.2 billion to 35 recipients in 18 states through President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The funds will help public transportation agencies pay for day-to-day operations as they continue to provide […]
FORT WORTH – Analysts and industry observers suspected that BNSF Railway had to pay a pretty penny to buy out Montana Rail Link’s long-term lease on the former Northern Pacific main line. It turns out they were right. BNSF’s financial report suggests the railroad paid MRL around $2 billion to tear up the lease well […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway has urged federal regulators to take steps to protect cross-border traffic to and from Mexico as part of any approval of the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger. But BNSF dropped its plan to pursue trackage rights over KCS to the Laredo, Texas, gateway in its Monday regulatory filing, which was […]
WASHINGTON — Norfolk Southern sees the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger as a threat to its Meridian Speedway intermodal traffic. NS announced its intention to protect its Meridian Speedway traffic in a pair of Monday regulatory filings posted to the Surface Transportation Board website on Tuesday. NS may exercise its option to purchase the KCS-served […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has announced its upcoming hearing on proposed reciprocal switching regulations will be held online, via Zoom, and will be available for public viewing on YouTube. The hearing is set to be held March 15-16, with proceedings beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST each day. It will be shown on the […]
WASHINGTON — Two unions involved in the negotiations for a new national rail labor contract have asked to be released from mediation with the coalition representing railroads, instead requesting to move to arbitration. In a letter dated Feb. 23, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference, and the […]
HOUGHTON, Mich. — Applications are now being accepted for the Tracks to the Future Summer Program, which offers high school students a chance to learn about rail transportation and engineering, and why it could be an inviting career choice. Michigan Tech University, Penn State-Altoona, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are combining for the […]
WASHINGTON – A U.S. DOT report critical of railroads discusses pandemic-related supply chain problems and cites concerns with Precision Scheduled Railroading, Class I railroad consolidation, and rising railroad rates. Among the recommendations in the 141-page report, released on Thursday in response to a Biden administration executive order issued a year ago: Increased regulation of freight […]
WASHINGTON — The latest weekly U.S. rail traffic figures show a massive increase over the same week last year — a reflection of a week in 2021 when rail traffic experienced massive weather disruptions. Statistics from the Association of American Railroads show U.S. railroads handled 497,822 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Feb. […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — A U.S. District Court Judge has again prohibited unions from striking BNSF Railway over new attendance policies, granting an injunction and saying the railroad is likely to prevail in arbitration, and that the strike would cause irreparable harm to the railroad. The heads of the unions involved in the dispute say […]
These ten unusual locomotive paint schemes are a sight to behold. Railroads usually spend a lot of money and time to create an image. Lettering, a paint scheme, a “look” is all important for consistency and brand identification. So, here are a few examples of locomotive paint schemes that were either derivations of the original […]
SPRINGFIELD, Va. — ENSCO, the international rail, aerospace, and security firm that will be taking over operation of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Transportation Technology Center, is holding a free public webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 23, to outline the services and capabilities it will offer to railroads, transit agencies, and suppliers at the Pueblo, Colo., facility, […]
