OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has reversed itself on charging penalties to truckers for cancellations and no-shows for reserved intermodal slots. The controversial charges were part of the July rollout of UP’s Intermodal Terminal Reservations System. Cancellations of intermodal reservations later than 24 hours before gate cutoff brought a $25 fee; no-shows resulted in a […]
A portion of the cameras and sensors aimed at freight trains to detect freight car problems at the Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colo. These sensors help comprise the most modern methods of freight car inspection. Trains staff Q: How do railroads determine which freight cars need repair before continuing their journeys? — Robert Rose, […]
A photo of a big boxy freight load, likely a wind turbine nacelle. Submitted by Mark Faust Q: Saw a whole CSX Transportation train of these in Sullivan, Ind. What are they? — Mark Faust, Carmel, Ind. A: The photo you submitted resembles a wind turbine gearbox nacelle, and is probably what the train was […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National has announced ongoing intermodal relationships with two ocean carriers, Evergreen Line and COSCO Shipping. CN and Evergreen’s new intermodal agreement extends a 27-year relationship between the companies and includes Evergreen’s usage of such CN-served ports as Vancouver, Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. COSCO has chosen CN as its […]
BOSTON — Precision Scheduled Railroad remains a “mixed bag” for trucking giant and intermodal pioneer J.B. Hunt, according to Darren Field, the company’s executive vice president for intermodal. “I’m a supporter of PSR as long as we can continue to communicate well with those railroads implementing that plan,” Field told attendees at the recent Cowan […]
WASHINGTON — Congress returns from its long summer recess Monday with just three weeks to hammer out funding and avoid another government shutdown. Absent appropriations, the U.S. Department of Transportation and most other federal branches would largely shutter operations, as they did for 35 days starting last December. While Congress and the White House grabbed headlines […]
A CSX local returning from the “back side” of the former Toledo Terminal passes Hallett Tower in August 2016. Brian Schmidt TOLEDO, Ohio – Watco Companies will close the final chapter on Toledo’s final interlocking tower this week with the transfer of dispatching duties from Hallett Tower to its Pittsburg, Kan., offices. The move, expected […]
BOSTON — Canadian National’s traffic is growing more slowly than expected, and with volumes flat in the third quarter it will be difficult to reach its projected mid single-digit percentage increase in revenue ton miles this year, Chief Financial Officer Ghislain Houle says. “The volumes are much weaker than what we expected,” Houle told an […]
Shut down by Hurricane Dorian since Saturday, Florida East Coast Railway officials say limited operations were to begin today, Sept. 5. Pending the approval from maintenance and signal crews, operations would be underway at the north and south ends of the railroad with full restoration of service expected on Friday. By Wednesday, FEC’s Fort Lauderdale […]
BOSTON — Norfolk Southern is working to shift some bulk traffic into its merchandise network as a second phase of its Precision Scheduled Railroading operating plan kicks in. The TOP21 plan, which was implemented across the railroad on July 1, reduced the number of through trains by more than 10% as tonnage moves on fewer […]
BOSTON — Kansas City Southern’s performance metrics continue to improve amid its shift to Precision Scheduled Railroading. Train speeds improved 12%, terminal dwell improved 11%, and the number of miles freight cars traveled per day increased 9% in August compared to a year ago, Chief Marketing Officer Mike Naatz told an investor conference on Wednesday. […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Aug. 31, 2019, as well as volumes for August 2019. U.S. railroads originated 1,055,386 carloads in August 2019, down 4.6%, or 50,672 carloads, from August 2018. U.S. railroads also originated 1,089,849 containers and trailers in […]
