Pinsly Railroad Co. to acquire Texas short line Hondo Railway

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Shortline operator Pinsly Railroad Co. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hondo Railway, a short line railroad company in Hondo, Texas, just west of San Antonio. Pinsly and its partner, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, have requested that the transaction be exempt from Surface Transportation Board review, as is common […]

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FRA releases safety audit of BNSF Railway

Low-angle view of orange locomotives with train of containers

WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway’s safety practices are improving and the company has a commitment to safety, according to a Federal Railroad Administration review. But FRA recommended that BNSF take steps to foster trust between management and labor, better respond to safety concerns fairly and consistently, and to improve training for new employees and maintenance of […]

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Cuyahoga Valley Scenic names new CEO

Larry Stevenson. Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

PENINSULA, Ohio — Larry Stevenson has been named the new president and CEO of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, the heritage rail operation announced today. Stevenson was most recently CEO of the Island Corridor Foundation, the non-profit on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island overseeing the right-of-way of the former Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway. That organization has […]

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Regulators delve into an Amtrak ‘Sunset Limited’ mystery

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has received thousands of pages of documents as part of its investigation into the substandard on-time performance of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. And yet regulators still have a mystery on their hands. The key question they want answered: Which railroads officially host the easternmost 15.5 miles of the Sunset Limited’s […]

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Analysis: The more things change, the more they stay the same

While searching the Trains archives the other day, I stumbled upon a December 1973 commentary by Editor David P. Morgan, who was pondering the future of railroading. I was struck by how many of the same concerns that he raised during one of the darkest periods in rail history still ring true today as the […]

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RoadRailer service sails off into the sunset

Trailers on railroad wheels for RoadRailer service at twilight

A lot of diligent photographers were scattered along the old Wabash main line in Indiana and Illinois this past weekend to photograph the last runs of trains 255 and 256, the remnants of one of the most novel trains to ever grace American rails, Norfolk Southern’s Kansas City-Detroit RoadRailer service. What the fans were shooting […]

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Charlotte would pay Norfolk Southern $91 million for commuter rail route

Map of rail line between Charlotte and Mt. Mourne, N.C.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —Charlotte would pay $91 million to Norfolk Southern for right-of-way and other land needed for a long-discussed commuter rail line running to the north under a proposal presented to city council members on Monday. The plan includes $74 million for 22 miles of rail line and $17 million for 1.6 acres of land […]

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CSX displays its latest heritage locomotive: No. 1900, honoring Seaboard Air Line

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 18th heritage locomotive in the CSX fleet is No. 1900, a tribute to predecessor Seaboard Air Line. CEO Joe Hinrichs unveiled the locomotive today in a post on LinkedIn. “This railroad played a significant role in what is now CSX (Chessie Seaboard X) — especially our strength across the Southeastern United […]

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Norfolk Southern’s Triple Crown RoadRailers ride off into history

MELVINDALE, Mich. – Norfolk Southern hotshot 255 has a 2:20 a.m. date with destiny. It’s the last departure — ever — of a Triple Crown RoadRailer train. In the Detroit terminal at Oakwood Yard, crews have 95 of the bimodal trailers staged on three tracks, ready to be assembled into tonight’s train for the 715-mile […]

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CN, CPKC preparing to restart Canadian operations; union declines to return Sunday (updated)

Red locomotives of CN and CP in yard

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are moving toward restarting operations early Monday following a Saturday ruling by the Canada Industrial Relations Board ending the work stoppages at both railroads. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, however, continues to take issue with the CIRB decision sending the dispute between the union and railroads to binding […]

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Canadian agency upholds binding arbitration order to end rail dispute (additional update)

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canada Industrial Relations Board has affirmed the decision by Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to end the work stoppages at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, requiring the railroads to resume operations and to impose binding arbitration between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to resolve new contract […]

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Union announces tentative deal for conductors with Amtrak

Passenger train at grade crossing

WASHINGTON — The union representing Amtrak conductors and assistant conductors announced it had reached a new tentative agreement with the passenger operator for a seven-year contract covering more than 2,100 employees. The agreement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) will include a “substantial general wage increase,” the […]

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