ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is taking a two-pronged approach to operational changes as it adopts Precision Scheduled Railroading. First, it’s redesigning local service from scratch using a process that it has dubbed clean-sheeting. Second, NS will begin making systemwide operating changes that affect road trains once the first round of clean-sheeting is completed in June. […]
Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires Norfolk Southern ATLANTA — Expect to see big changes on Norfolk Southern as the railroad launches its new Precision Scheduled Railroading operating plan, TOP21, over the summer. The most visible differences will include longer trains with distributed power, the increased use of general purpose trains that combine different types of […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern’s embrace of Precision Scheduled Railroading will put the railroad’s operational house in order and improve financial results, including a 60-percent operating ratio by 2021. “We decided to adopt Precision Scheduled Railroading because it works,” Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires said in kicking off the railroad’s investor day presentations on Monday. NS […]
A Brightline train streaks through Delray Beach, Fla. FRA grants announced Friday include more than $2 million for grade-crossing improvements on Brightline’s route. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has announced more than $56 million in grants, covering 18 projects in 16 states, to improve rail safety, efficiency, and reliability through the […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Southern has named Sameh Fahmy to the position of executive vice president for Precision Scheduled Railroading. He will report to KCS President and CEO Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. “I am very pleased to announce that Sameh will lead the implementation of principals of the Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) methodology that […]
WASHINGTON — Operation Lifesaver, Inc. has announced what it describes as “a generous donation” from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh. The undisclosed amount will support four projects. The grant will fund suicide prevention messages in communities identified by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Trespass and Suicide Dashboard that shows locations and trends in fatalities along railroad […]
Association of American Railroads Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 2, as well as volumes for January 2019. U.S. railroads originated 1,238,487 carloads in January 2019, up 1.7 percent, or 21,054 carloads, from January 2018. U.S. railroads also originated 1,316,168 […]
Speculation grows about Amazon’s increasing role as a freight carrier and what that may mean for suppliers of transportation services by air, truck, water, and perhaps eventually by rail. Since what has been termed the “2013 Christmas Fiasco” in which United Parcel Service failed to deliver Amazon packages before Christmas Day, Amazon has been assuming […]
Garden City Terminal rail yard, Savannah, Ga. Georgia Ports Authority Increased U.S. port expansions include substantial development of rail infrastructure, among them intermodal projects at ports on both coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and on inland waterways. With the enlarged Panama Canal available since 2016, eastern ports have been upgrading to lure Pacific ship traffic […]
Association of American Railroads Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads recently reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Jan. 26. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 522,026 carloads and intermodal units, down 4 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will drop interline intermodal service in 186 low-volume lanes with destinations on Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and CSX Transportation. The changes, announced in late January, are the latest as UP streamlines its intermodal network as it implements its Unified Plan 2020, the new operating plan based on the principles of […]
A switch crew shuffles sand cars at the south end of Butler Yard, March 2015. Trains: Brian Schmidt BUTLER, Wis. – A Union Pacific yard in Milwaukee’s suburbs on former Chicago & North Western tracks is feeling the impact of UP’s adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading, observers and those close to the yard tell Trains […]
