RICHMOND HILL, Ontario — An inadvertent brake release by the engineer as he left the locomotive cab led to the derailment of a runaway train earlier this year on the Goderich Exeter Railway in Goderich, Ontario, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has determined. In the Feb. 1, 2021, accident, two locomotives and six cars […]
CHICAGO — Union Pacific may temporarily reopen its idled Global III intermodal terminal in Rochelle, Ill., to help relieve congestion at its Global IV terminal in Joliet, Ill. UP informed customers Wednesday it will temporarily halt shipments of international containers from all West Coast ports to its Global IV terminal for up to a week, […]
KINGSPORT, Tenn. — For the second straight year, there will be no CSX Santa Train in the southern Appalachian mountains. Instead, organizers will hold drive-through distribution of gifts at four locations. The train had run for 77 years until it was replaced by the drive-through distribution last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic [see “CSX […]
CALGARY, Alberta — The Canada Infrastructure bank may fund up to half of a proposed passenger rail operation between Calgary’s airport and the popular tourist destination of Banff, an idea promoted by the provincial government and a private firm, Liricon Capital. Canadian Pacific, whose rail line would be involved, is open to the idea, Canadian […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Norfolk Southern has dipped its toes into a market that railroads abandoned decades ago: Expedited less-than-carload service. NS launched the door-to-door service this month as an experiment in the Chicago-Atlanta-Miami corridor. Trucks pick up small loads and deliver them to a rail-served warehouse where the shipments are cross-docked into waiting boxcars. The […]
LYTTON, B.C. — Less than 24 hours after Canadian National reopened its fire-damaged main line in British Columbia, that line has been shut down again — as has the former British Columbia Railway line that had been used to reroute some traffic. Bloomberg reports CN informed customers on Wednesday that it was suspending operations between […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The new general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority says the agency won’t be restarting light rail this month, as it had previously hoped. Carolyn Gonot, who became the VTA general manager this week, told the San Jose Mercury News the agency is now hoping to resume service in […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic managed a slight gain over 2020 figures in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads, while experiencing a notable decline over the previous week’s figures. After a long period where 2021 statistics were well ahead of the corresponding figures for 2020, the week ending July 10 found […]
OMAHA, Neb. – In the latest pandemic-related disruption, Union Pacific has told customers it will halt all shipments of international containers from West Coast ports to its Global IV terminal in Chicago for up to a week. The embargo, scheduled to begin on Sunday night, will help the railroad clear a container backlog at Global […]
WASHINGTON — In an uncommon move, the National Transportation Safety Board has weighed in on a proposed rule before the Surface Transportation Board, expressing concern about a proposal regarding temporary trackage rights. The proposed rule, requested by the Association of American Railroads, would allow an exemption from the usual process to approve trackage rights to […]
Canadian National’s busy main line through the rugged Thompson and Fraser river canyons, which was damaged by a June 30 wildfire that leveled the town of Lytton, British Columbia, is scheduled to reopen this evening (Tuesday, July 13). “In coordination with local authorities and First Nations, CN staff have inspected the area and carried out […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. – Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman fully supports the White House’s call for more competition in the rail industry and questions whether Class I railroads are shirking their obligations as common carriers due to pressure from Wall Street. Oberman, addressing the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers today, said the Biden administration’s […]
