Canadian National MONTREAL — Canadian National is updating its operating plan to reflect surging volumes and the new track capacity, locomotives, and crews that are coming online to handle it over the next few months. “How we work is not going to change. Precision railroading is our gold standard,” Chief Operating Mike Cory told investors […]
OMAHA, Neb. — CSX Transportation’s financial turnaround — including a record-low quarterly operating ratio of 58.6 percent — may increase Wall Street pressure on the rest of the American railroad industry. Analysts compared Union Pacific’s second-quarter results with those of CSX and during the railroad’s earnings call on Thursday asked executives why UP doesn’t measure […]
CSX Transportation CEO James Foote CSX Corp. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s key performance metrics continued to improve in the second quarter, except for the measurement that matters most: On-time performance. Compared to a year ago, CSX’s on-time originations fell 2 points, to 83 percent, while on-time arrivals dropped 2 points, to 59 percent for […]
Doug MacDonald, Canadian National bulk products vice president, speaks before the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers summer meeting in Lake Geneva, Wis., on July 17. TRAINS: S. Sweeney LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Canadian National leaders are working on a new operating plan that could be unveiled as soon as this fall, says one executive. Doug […]
Late CSX Transportation CEO E. Hunter Harrison gestures during a Surface Transportation Board hearing in 2017. Harrison gained notoriety among shippers for up-ending the railroad’s intermodal network. Harrison’s successor, James Foote, says there is still more work to do. R.G. Edmonson JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is in the midst of another revamp of its […]
A former London & North Eastern Class D49 4-4-0 displays the British-style method of securing the smokebox door and using buffers with couplers. Kenneth G. Williamson Q Why did British steam locomotives use a center-locking device on the smokebox and buffers with link and chain for car coupling? How did U.S. railroads do it differently? […]
Work progresses on C&O 1309 at Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Diversified Rail Services Trailing truck from C&O 1309. Diversified Rail Services Welder fabricates new ashpan on C&O 1309. Diversified Rail Services RIDGELEY, W.Va. — In a continuing update series of dispatches about the restoration of 2-6-6-2 No. 1309, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and contractor Diversified […]
Railroads are likely to report stellar financial results for the second quarter as traffic and freight rates continue to rise. CSX Transportation will kick off two weeks of Class I railroad earnings reports and conference calls with Wall Street analysts when it releases quarterly results on July 17. It will be followed by Canadian Pacific […]
CHICAGO — The beginning of the end is near for the most congested rail chokepoint in the nation’s busiest rail hub, Chicago area transportation officials say. Funding is finally in place to begin design work on the Forest Hill Flyover on Chicago’s South Side, where four Belt Railway of Chicago, Norfolk Southern, and Metra tracks […]
Named Class I Railroads; Bill Stephens NEW YORK — Five of the big six Class I railroads reported traffic gains in the first half of the year amid a strong economy, tight truck supply, and soaring truck rates. BNSF Railway led the industry in growth through June 30, with traffic up 5 percent overall, according […]
A burned covered hopper and bridge on the San Luis & Rio Grande line at Sierra, 40 miles east of Alamosa, Colo. Contractors have been on-site since July 2 and hope to have the rails replaced and operational by July 6. Ed Ellis U.S. Drought Monitor: USDA/University of Nebraska-Lincoln Listed in 2014 by USA Today […]
CSX Corp. Radnor Yard CSX Corp. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation will reopen the hump at Nashville’s Radnor Yard within the next few weeks. The hump was idled in July 2017 as part of the broad operational changes made by then-CEO E. Hunter Harrison, who converted eight of CSX’s 12 hump yards to flat-switching facilities […]
