OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s first-quarter, pre-tax profit rose due to a surge in intermodal volume, as retailers sought to keep shelves and warehouses full and consumers’ online purchases boosted parcel shipments. BNSF’s pre-tax profit was up 4.7% to $1.7 billion, as revenue declined 0.4% to $5.2 billion. “The increase principally resulted from increased volume […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — After five years in which local preservation efforts have delayed efforts to replace the structure, BNSF Railway has asked the U.S. Coast Guard to allow efforts to proceed to demolish the 138-year-old Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge over the Missouri River. The Bismarck Tribune reports BNSF Director of Bridge Maintenance Mike Herzog sent an […]
Seatrain Georgia Seatrain Georgia, built in 1951 as one of the last two 1928-style rail car ships, is on the Hudson River at the start of a voyage. The vessels carried mostly boxcars, with tank cars and gondolas a distant second and third. Her colors are gray and white, with red funnel markings. U. S. […]
Throughout the 1960s, my grandfather owned a filling station in the tiny town of Lanagan, south of Joplin in the southwestern corner of Missouri on the Kansas City Southern main line. Every weekend I would be at the station, and once my chores were done, I was free to wander about the area. The KCS […]
WASHINGTON — On the day it marks the 50th anniversary of its launch, and the day after an event marking that anniversary that featured President Joe Biden, Amtrak is reiterating its desire to add up to 160 communities to its network through an expansion of routes and train frequencies over the next 15 years. At […]
WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation will gradually rebuild Pan Am Railways’ slow main line track, pare its aging locomotive roster, and extend positive train control over the full route of Amtrak’s Downeaster service that links Boston and Maine. CSX detailed its plans for the New England regional in a more detailed merger application filed this week with […]
Dutchtown Southern, the smallest railroad you’ve never heard of, just might be the biggest story in railroading. The Watco short line began operations in January on 1.76 miles of track leased from Canadian National in Geismar, La. Located some 20 miles south of Baton Rouge along a bend in the Mississippi River, the Dutchtown Southern […]
Initial test of Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive have concluded, with both the manufacturer and testing partner BNSF Railway saying the locomotive’s revenue testing in Southern California — which covered more than 13,000 miles — indicate the promise of the technology. During Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call — as the locomotive was making its way back to […]
West Virginia fails to fund MARC service, placing future in doubt The future of MARC commuter rail service to West Virginia is again in doubt after the state legislature failed to include service for the funding in its 2021-22 budget. The Martinsburg Journal-News reports state Senate President Craig Blair said he struck the commuter train […]
WASHINGTON — Three members of Congress have introduced legislation to give Amtrak the ability to take host railroads to court over on-time performance issues. The Rail Passenger Fairness Act, introduced by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durban (D-Ill), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), addresses one of the facets of […]
Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel yesterday told a shipper group that his railroad can’t win a bidding war for Kansas City Southern. Creel also wouldn’t rule out cooperating with Canadian National and KCS on some level, and said that if CN and KCS were to merge, leaving CP as the smallest Class I railroad, CP […]
WASHINGTON —The latest salvo in Amtrak’s attempt to launch two daily round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., has landed at the Surface Transportation Board in the passenger railroad’s 80-page “Response in Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss.” Responding to a 284-page filing by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern on April 5, the passenger […]
