A southbound ‘Acela’ races across a stretch of positive train control trackage on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor at Perryville, Md., on June 5, 2011. Michael T. Burkhart This story first appeared in the October 2011 issue of Trains Magazine. The Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System highlighted here was not active at the time of the of […]
Confidential Close Call reporting basics A New Jersey Transit train zips northward from Atlantic City to New York’s Penn Station on Jan. 23, 2010. If the crew were to err, they could report the close call and be part of a bigger program to improve safety, rather than be punished. Dennis A. Livesay photograph Confidential […]
Positive Train Control Tick, tock. U.S. railroads have collectively spent decades and billions of dollars on positive train control research. Tick. Public outcry after a 2008 commuter crash that killed 25 people — a crash that a Federal safety panel says PTC could have prevented — pushed Congress to act. Tock. With a Congressional deadline […]
Intelligent Grade Crossings will warn motorists and trains that approach is imminent. Federal Railroad Administration Train crews and motorists may have the ability to “see” one another earlier than ever thanks to “Intelligent Grade Crossings” currently under development through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development Office. Since the dawn of railroading, one of the […]
Northbound CSX Transportation aggregates train K944 is seen meeting intermodal train Q145 at Opelika, Ala., in 2010. Class I railroads use different kinds of schedules to keep their networks fluid and profitable, even on single-track lines. Frank Orona What time will the train depart? When will it arrive? While most people associate schedules with passenger […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., has introduced the Safe Freight Act in the Senate today in an effort to require two-person crews aboard all freight trains in the United States. The bill is a companion to a piece of legislation previously introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. […]
A 220-car loaded CSX Transportation coal train with mid-train distributed power rolls into St. Albans, W.Va., on Jan. 27, 2018. Chase Gunnoe HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Unit coal trains in Appalachia are now running with distributed power less than two weeks after CSX Transportation officials indicated the increased use of the mid-train technology. Ed Harris, CSX’s […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board recently settled a carrier-shipper rate dispute in favor of the shipper, something that hasn’t happened in several years. The decision was in a case brought by Consumers Energy against CSX Transportation in January 2015. Consumers challenged the rates that CSX charged the Jackson, Mich.,-based utility to move Powder River […]
Hearne, Texas Google Maps OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will build a new hump yard in Texas to handle growth in carload traffic that threatens to eventually swamp existing yards in the Lone Star State. The $550 millon Brazos Yard, to be built in Hearne, Texas, is scheduled to open in 2020, Chief Operating Officer […]
CSX Transportation eastbound auto rack train Q264 slices through the fog on the former Boston & Albany route in Westfield, Mass., in 2008. The B&A, as well as branches in Massachusetts, are among the 8,000 miles CSX is reviewing for potential sale. Bill Stephens JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is reviewing 8,000 miles of rail […]
Charlie’s road trip with Karl and Nicholas along the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State continues with a visit to the locomotive shops of the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Chief Mechanical Officer Brad Byrd explains what remains to be done to bring the Cascade Rail Foundation’s GE U25B back to life. […]
Charlie’s road trip with Karl and Nicholas along the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State continues with a visit to the locomotive shops of the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Chief Mechanical Officer Brad Byrd explains what remains to be done to bring the Cascade Rail Foundation’s GE U25B back to life. […]
