Controls for measuring the length of a train (circled) are integrated into the touch screen Video Information Display on an EMD SD70ACe. Tom Danneman Q If an engineer has a train with 100 or more cars and he gets a signal to take the siding, how does he know when he and all the cars […]
WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation is now operating as well as or better than it did in 2016 thanks to improved terminal dwell and average train speeds holding steady, railroad executives told federal regulators this week. But a merchandise shipper told regulators that key performance metrics don’t show much that matters to them. On-time arrivals, re-crew […]
Willard, Ohio Google Maps JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation has shut down the hump at Willard Yard in Ohio, the latest terminal to be converted to a flat-switching facility under CEO E. Hunter Harrison and his Precision Scheduled Railroading operating plan. Last year, Willard was the fourth-busiest hump yard on the railroad, when it processed […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is reducing the number of domestic and international intermodal destinations served from its terminal in Columbus, Ohio. CSX told customers on Oct. 12 that it would be dropping outbound service from Columbus to nearly two dozen locations. Only a handful of inbound lanes are being eliminated, the railroad said. The […]
MONTREAL, Quebec — Derailment investigation expert Gary Wolf speaks with Trains Associate Editor Steve Sweeney at the 2017 Wheel Rail Interaction conference in Montreal about his career in railroading and how he came to be part of a group that investigated double-stack container wrecks in the western United States. Wolf is the primary source for […]
On June 8, 2015, Montana Rail Link’s business train soars high over the white waters of Fish Creek, near Rivulet, Mont. During this trip, the railroad’s owner, Dennis Washington, hosted business partners aboard the train. Steven Welch Q What is the purpose of railroad business and inspection trains, and who would use them? – Dennis […]
CSX Transportation’s North Baltimore Yard, near North Baltimore, Ohio. Brian Schmidt JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is preparing to scale back operations at its intermodal hub in North Baltimore, Ohio, which opened in 2011 as the $175-million centerpiece of a new intermodal strategy. The Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal was designed to support CSX’s hub-and-spoke approach […]
Crude oil loads from the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota roll through St. Albans, W.Va., enroute to Yorktown, Va., in April 2014. Chase Gunnoe WASHINGTON — A Transportation Research Board committee on Oct. 5 reported that results were “inconclusive” in a year-long study of the effectiveness of electronically controlled pneumatic brakes to reduce the risk […]
PERTH, Australia — Officials with Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto say they’ve successfully operated a driverless train on a 60-mile stretch of tracks in western Australia. In previous tests, Rio Tinto locomotives operated across the route in “autopilot mode,” but with a crew still present in the cab. This is the first test in which […]
RENO, Nev. — Flying low, through a truss bridge, under a Union Pacific train, and even in a boxcar are just a few of the stunts a drone pilot shows off in a YouTube video while a UP mixed freight is in motion. The video, embedded above, went live on Sept. 20 and has already […]
Crews work to place trailers on flatcars in Denver in March 2017. Trailers, or TOFC, made an unexpected rebound in volume so far in 2017. TRAINS: Steve Sweeney INDIANAPOLIS – Intermodal traffic, which has come back nicely after a rare down year in 2016, likely will continue to gain ground in 2018 as truck capacity […]
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A federal judge has ordered a man accused of making unauthorized transmissions on railroad radio frequencies to wear an ankle monitor and be confined to his home until his trial begins, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids. U.S. Chief Magistrate C.J. Williams made the decision Sept. 11 after the magistrate […]
