Increasing biofuel consumption will be a key way for Norfolk Southern to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to its inaugural climate transition plan.

Craig M. Keats started his career in 1972 as an attorney for the Interstate Commerce Commission — the Surface Transportation Board’s predecessor — and he has stayed on since then.

What are stakeholders in the freight rail space keeping an eye on in 2024? Here’s a starter list.

The Federal Railroad Administration submitted its proposed rulemaking on train crew staffing to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for review.

Intermodal rail might still face pressure from a loose truck market in 2024, but intermodal rail providers could see volumes grow longer term if they keep service humming, according to Breakthrough’s chief economist.

Election-year politics and the NTSB report on the East Palestine derailment are key factors in whether Congress will pass rail safety legislation in 2024, industry observers say.

Cargo volumes at the Port of New York and New Jersey were 7.5% higher than November 2019 but 11% lower year over year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reopened the international border crossings at Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, according to the freight railroads affected by the five-day closure.

Parallel Systems recently gave a public demonstration of how its autonomous rail vehicle technology works.

The U.S. freight rail industry got schooled in 2023 on issues including the three R’s: rail safety, reciprocal switching and relationships.

Union Pacific wants customers to lobby Congress to get U.S. Customs and Border Protection to say when suspended freight rail operations in El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas, will resume.

New York becomes the 11th state to require freight trains to have at least two crew members.

Two environmental groups say BNSF should do more to reduce deaths of grizzly bears being hit by freight trains on federally protected grounds in Idaho and Montana.

Intermodal rail can and should be a competitive transportation mode, provided that short-line railroads play a part and more investments go into developing intermodal hubs and insightful data sets, according to a report commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund.

TE Management affiliate American Industrial Transport has completed its acquisition of the rail car assets of SMBC Rail Services.

Rail technology provider Wabtec is joining forces with Dutch company Intermodal Telematics to create telematics technology for rail cars.

In this fireside chat, FreightWaves’ chief economist Anthony Smith talks with Union Pacific’s Matt Gloeb about how collaboration between the railroad and truck carriers in the intermodal space can help customers reach sustainability goals.

The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed that rail car manufacturers certify that their rail cars were made in countries that haven’t been flagged by the U.S. government for national security concerns. Two trade groups representing rail equipment manufacturers support this measure.

The Federal Railroad Administration is providing over $8 billion in grants that will support two high-speed rail projects as well as capital improvements on existing rail corridors that carry both passenger rail and freight rail traffic.

Canadian railway CN is acquiring family-owned Iowa Northern Railway, a 275-mile short-line railroad serving the Upper Midwest.

The U.S. and Canada plan to form a joint task force aimed at developing and integrating zero-emissions technologies for locomotives at a wider and accelerated scale.

Georgia Ports Authority will use internal funds and a $46.8 million federal grant to build the Blue Ridge Connection inland rail terminal in Gainesville.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division is continuing to express its disappointment over planned furloughs at Union Pacific. But UP insists that it will call back furloughed employees as the railway pursues rail service and safety goals.

CSX is facing a class action lawsuit over the sulfur dioxide that was released into the air when a train derailed in eastern Kentucky the day before Thanksgiving.

Union Pacific is seeking to beef up its intermodal offerings via a terminal in Phoenix and the addition of destinations for its on-dock rail service at Port Houston.

Will Congress pass any rail safety bills before 2023 ends? One consultant thinks the answer is probably no.

Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Rail Link has secured five new contracts since September, the private short-line operator recently announced.

A failed wheel bearing may have caused the derailment of a CSX train in Kentucky last week.

Using technology to assess adverse weather impacts in real time and working with other railroads to adopt best practices were two of the Federal Railroad Administration’s recommendations.

A CSX train carrying molten sulfur derailed and caught fire on Wednesday north of Livingston, Kentucky, prompting a voluntary evacuation and state of emergency declaration.

In light of the numerous comments that the Surface Transportation Board received on its proposed reciprocal switching rule, the board has extended a deadline for additional feedback by two weeks.

Belgium-based logistics provider Katoen Natie is expanding warehousing and rail facilities at its Norfolk, Virginia, operations, to support the export market for plastic resins.

Despite a 22% volume decline year over year, the Port of Savannah had its fourth-busiest October, according to the Georgia Ports Authority.

Executives with CSX, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern at recent investor conferences listed some of the ways they expect to improve rail service.

After serving one five-year term on the Surface Transportation Board, Chairman Marty Oberman has decided against seeking reappointment.

Two sites in Iowa and one in Kansas have been added to BNSF’s certified sites list for locations that are primed for industrial development and near BNSF’s rail network.

Dozens of industry stakeholders, from individual Class I railroads to multiple shipper groups to the trade unions, offered their input on what’s wrong and what’s right about the Surface Transportation Board’s proposed rulemaking on reciprocal switching.

BNSF, J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Mexico’s GMXT are launching an intermodal service in January between Mexico and the Midwest.

3i-backed Regional Rail plans to acquire two more short-line railroads, one in Ohio and one in Indiana, as part of a push to expand its presence in the Midwest.

BNSF and Navajo Transitional Energy Co. have reached a settlement on NTEC’s request for more rail service to export coal.

The National Transportation Safety Board wants freight and passenger railroads to incorporate new technologies that boost the effectiveness of existing positive train control technologies.

High numbers of migrant crossings in September disrupted freight rail operations, including Trinity Industries’ and FreightCar America’s ability to send new rail cars into the U.S., executives said on recent earnings calls.

Canadian railway CN, the Mississippi State Port Authority and Ports America have signed a memorandum of understanding for an intermodal service at the Port of Gulfport.

Cincinnati voters on Tuesday approved selling Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern for $1.62 billion.

The rail industry continues to streamline operations and realign rail car fleet management via acquisitions.

The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $16.4 billion to 25 passenger rail projects, many of which are in the busy Northeast corridor. Freight rail may also benefit from the projects.

A 13% decline in total revenues dented BNSF’s net profit for the third quarter.

A look at U.S. Class I rail employment data shows that head count for train and engine crews grew when comparing averages in 2023 with 2020 — but employment totals for those maintaining equipment and stores appeared to fall.

Rail electrification and locomotives powered by green hydrogen are two goals that the rail industry and federal and state leaders should adopt, according to the Sierra Club’s revised statement on how to encourage clean transportation for the railroads.

The Greenbrier Companies, GATX and Wabtec all reported quarterly earnings this week. Among the themes expressed during earnings calls was pervading market uncertainty domestically but an abundance of international opportunities.

Norfolk Southern is asking the Surface Transportation Board to compel Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX to consolidate their applications on plans to create a Mexico-Southeast U.S. corridor. Doing so would provide greater insight on freight and passenger rail impacts, NS argues.

Members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen who work on CSX’s L&N property have ratified their sick leave agreement, CSX said.

Uncertainties over consumer demand and inflation rates are causing Canadian Pacific Kansas City to adopt a more cautious stance as 2024 approaches.

CPKC reported a 12% decline in net profit in the third quarter despite higher combined revenues.

Short-term pain will lead to long-term gain for Norfolk Southern, the railway’s CEO said when asked about his company’s higher margins amid plans to continue improvements to rail service.

NS’ third-quarter net income fell 50% amid a $163 million incident charge related to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment in February.

Partnerships with other Class I railroads will help the freight rail industry gain market share, CN executives said during the Canadian railway’s third-quarter 2023 earnings call Tuesday.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority is starting construction on a project that will increase rail-to-container transloading at the Canadian port, particularly for agricultural, forestry and plastic resin products.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and Norfolk Southern, with technical input from the Federal Railroad Administration, will conduct a one-year pilot program to identify best safety practices.

Enabling information sharing between departments will help CSX not only cut costs but discover new business opportunities, COO Mike Cory said on the railway’s third-quarter earnings call.

Eastern U.S. Class I railroad said its third-quarter net profit fell 24% amid lower operating revenues.

On his first earnings call as Union Pacific’s CEO, Jim Vena said his goal for the railway is to “win and be the best in the industry.”

Lower revenues dented Union Pacific’s earnings for the third quarter of 2023.

Officials from Nexxiot and Deloitte talk with FreightWaves in this Q&A about how combining data on container movements and a container’s financial streams can help ward off illicit trade.

Patrick Whitehead and Derek Taylor will lead different aspects of CN’s operations as the Canadian railway seeks to make its operations more “innovative” and “modern.”

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen wants the Federal Railroad Administration to issue an emergency order prohibiting freight train lengths greater than 7,500 feet.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX are seeking approval from the Surface Transportation Board to acquire some of the assets of short line Meridian & Bigbee Railroad. They plan to beef up an Alabama interchange as part of an effort to create a Mexico-Southeast corridor.

A BNSF coal train derailed at a bridge north of Pueblo, Colorado, spilling coal and rail cars onto Interstate 25 beneath. The highway remains closed for now.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said a new rule calling for passenger trains to have inward- and outward-facing image recording devices should also have applied to freight trains.

The Port of Montreal has received funding from Canada’s National Trade Corridors Fund to build a new terminal aimed at boosting the port’s container handling capacity.

Add Kansas to the list of states that require more than one person in the locomotive cab of a freight train.

CN has released its operational plans for the 2023-2024 winter season. But the Canadian railway says new regulations create some uncertainty.

Chicago commuter rail system Metra filed a lawsuit against the Surface Transportation Board over its decision to approve the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.

Union Pacific will be offering intermodal service between two cities in Mexico and the U.S. Southeast.

Higher labor expenses, reduced volumes and regulatory uncertainty were among the third quarter’s headwinds for railroads, according to Susquehanna transportation analyst Bascome Majors.

U.S. intermodal volumes actually grew in September, according to the Association of American Railroads. And with the harvest season in full swing in the fourth quarter, expect rising grain volumes.

The National Transportation Safety Board will focus on CSX’s safety training of railway carmen as the agency continues investigating the death of a carman at a CSX yard in Ohio.

An internal system update caused internet connectivity issues at CN on Tuesday, affecting the Canadian railway’s customer service portal.

Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito want the Surface Transportation Board to “move swiftly” on reciprocal switching.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Union Pacific in federal court over the dismissal of 21 conductors and locomotive engineers who had failed the railroad’s vision test.

NS is examining the root cause of the Friday evening to early Saturday morning outage, which the railroad says was not a result of hacking or related to a previous system outage that occurred in late August.

The sale of BNSF Logistics’ brokerage unit to J.B. Hunt will likely involve layoffs of an unspecified number of employees, parent company BNSF confirmed Friday.

BNSF and SMART-TD have reached a tentative agreement addressing how BNSF handles work schedules for train conductors and other related union members.

Sixteen environmental groups have filed a rulemaking petition with the EPA asking for the federal agency to require coal train operators to have Clean Water Act permits when moving coal.

This AskWaves article looks at how a U.S. federal government shutdown would affect freight rail operations and proposed rail safety and economic rulemakings.

Declaring East Palestine, the town impacted by a Norfolk Southern train derailment, as the site of a public health emergency would allow area residents to have long-term access to Medicare, Ohio’s senators said in a letter to the EPA.

Two Florida East Coast Railway terminals will gain access to Norfolk Southern’s network, and NS and FEC will use a steel wheel interchange in Jacksonville, Florida, which will bolster access to Midwest markets.

The Georgia Ports Authority reported a dip in August volumes at the Port of Savannah. But volume increases for rail traffic and roll-on/roll-off cargo were bright sports for GPA last month.

Cincinnati voters will determine on Nov. 7 who should own the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which is currently owned by a group affiliated with the city. The city wants to sell it to Norfolk Southern for $1.62 billion.

The Federal Railroad Administration’s CRISI program for rail infrastructure projects awarded a record $1.4 billion to 70 projects across the U.S.

DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy says Atlas rail car system has undergone final testing, while Minneapolis-based Thermo King introduced its next-generation temperature-controlled slimline rail unit.

Although U.S. rail volumes may still be sluggish, Greenbrier received orders for 15,300 new rail cars in its latest fiscal quarter. The orders have an aggregate value of $1.9 billion.

Zeina El-Azzi, founder and CEO of Gage Zero, talks with FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson about why logistics and trucking companies should seek to ensure that they are protecting local communities as they roll out fleet electrification plans.

President Joe Biden wants Norfolk Southern and federal agencies to stay involved in recovery efforts in East Palestine, Ohio, where an NS train carrying hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3.

Progress Rail is asking a federal court to order Wabtec to divest of its GE Transportation unit, hold up its end of two agreements and correct statements it made about Progress Rail and its locomotive manufacturing program.

Although container volumes were down at the Port of Charleston year over year, South Carolina Ports’ Inland Port Greer saw record volumes in August.

BNSF and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division have struck a sick leave deal for union members.

Although the U.S. supply chain may no longer be imperiled by the pandemic-era chassis shortage, companies should still act in response to expectations that e-commerce and global trade will only continue to grow, according to the president and CEO of Trac Intermodal.

Rail union leaders want the industry to examine safety practices involving remote-controlled locomotives following the Sunday death of a railway carman at a CSX rail yard in Ohio.

Atkins Nuclear Secured released its initial findings on how Norfolk Southern can bolster its safety culture.