WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to enhance its methodology for determining the railroad industry’s cost of capital by incorporating an additional model, called “Step MSDCF,” into the calculation. Each year, the Board determines the railroad industry’s cost of capital. This figure, which the Board calculates as […]
HAGENBERG, Austria — Track Machines Connected (TMC) launched its business today, taking over the former Plasser & Theurer Connected subsidiary of maintenance-equipment firm Plasser & Theurer. The new company will add additional services for collection and processing of rail infrastructure data to those offered by P&T Connected, which since its launch in 2017 had worked […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific see signs that the economy is slowing but are sticking to their financial targets for this year as their traffic growth moderates. Canadian rail traffic has been much stronger than U.S. volume this year, but growth is weakening and crude oil traffic, while up, did not materialize as […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway this week launched a sixth day of intermodal service linking Los Angeles and CSX Transportation’s Northwest Ohio terminal. BNSF added a Sunday morning eastbound departure from its Hobart terminal in Los Angeles and a Monday morning westbound departure from North Baltimore, Ohio. BNSF began directly serving CSX’s former intermodal […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Sept. 21, 2019. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 528,670 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.8% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Sept. 21 were […]
While Amtrak Police Officer Job Hernandez checks for another train, the motorized skateboarder in the foreground prepares to cross the tracks in back of the Metra train headed into Chicago Union Station on Sept. 24, 2019. Bob Johnston CHICAGO — Thousands of police department, railroad, and safety-oriented organization personnel throughout the country are participating in […]
CMA CGM’s former APL containership President Eisenhower docks at the Port of Los Angeles last week alongside the CMA CGM Norma. Steamship lines will have to comply with a new low-sulfur fuel mandate beginning Jan. 1, 2020. Bill Stephens A low-sulfur marine fuel requirement for steamship lines may have wide-ranging implications for North American intermodal […]
Claude Mongeau, former CN CEO Norfolk Southern NORFOLK, Va. — It should come as no surprise that Norfolk Southern has added former Canadian National CEO Claude Mongeau to its board of directors as it shifts to a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. NS CEO Jim Squires has said his railroad is taking a balanced approach […]
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Trucking and intermodal company Schneider has launched Schneider Rail Dray to aid shippers in getting freight to rail ramps and from rail ramps to receivers. Targeted for the new service are railroads, third party logistics companies without enough truck drivers, and shippers using their own intermodal containers, according to Schneider officials. […]
BEAUMONT, Texas — Following heavy rains last week, Kansas City Southern has reopened trackage between Beaumont and Houston while Union Pacific still has freight embargoes on its Beaumont, Houston, and Lafayette Subdivisions, railroad officials say. Closures stemmed from flooding caused by Tropical Depression Imelda. KCS officials advise shippers to “expect delays for some time until […]
MINNEAPOLIS — Join Trains’ editors for a quick tour of the convention floor for the bi-annual Railway Interchange conference being held, this week, in Minneapolis. More information is available online. […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The impact of scheduled railroading on Canadian National’s intermodal network 15 years ago may show the path CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific will follow as they embrace the operating model of the late E. Hunter Harrison. CN slashed low-margin services, shut terminals, and shed volume while […]
