Railroads continue to play a significant role in North America’s economic infrastructure. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration, the U.S. rail freight network covers almost 140,000 route miles and is generally considered the largest, safest, and most cost-efficient freight system in the world. In addition, says the FRA, the almost $80 billion rail freight industry creates more than 167,000 jobs across the country.
In essence, rail freight companies charge businesses to carry cargo across their network of rails. Their rates are overseen by the Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency that regulates financial aspects of surface transportation. Major railroads in North America include Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway.
Keep up with the latest news, trends and reports concerning rail freight transport here!
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division says BNSF is relying too much on contracted work and isn’t doing enough to grow its ranks of maintenance-of-way employees.
BNSF has reached a sick leave and work-rest agreement with BLET; CSX and SMART-TD have partnered to extend CSX’s conductor trainee program.
The National Transportation Safety Board says more frequent track inspections could have helped prevent a fatal September 2021 Amtrak derailment that was caused by “poor track conditions.”
CPKC eyes opportunities for intermodal and for beefed-up business in Mexico to help recoup higher costs and lost revenue in the second quarter.
Hub Group reported $1 billion in revenue and earnings per share $1.44 during the second quarter.
CPKC released second-quarter earnings results as a merged company.
NS is seeking to improve network fluidity after the East Palestine train derailment, cut down on Ohio-related costs and match resources with market demand in the second half of 2023.
Revenue declines and a $416 million expense charge put pressure on Norfolk Southern’s second-quarter 2023 net profits.
New sick leave agreements and other deals will increase Union Pacific’s labor costs. Investors on UP’s second-quarter 2023 earnings call wanted to know by how much.
Consumer demand is putting pressure on intermodal and lumber volumes and that is weighing on how CN views the back half of this year.
Former Union Pacific and CN executive Jim Vena will be UP’s next CEO, while sustainability and strategy EVP Beth Whited has been promoted to president.
The Canadian wildfires and lower volumes for intermodal and crude oil put pressure on Canadian railway CN’s revenue for the second quarter of 2023.
A decline in loaded import volumes pulled the Georgia Ports Authority’s overall 2023 volumes lower.
The Federal Railroad Administration wants more data on train lengths so that the agency can better assess what impact, if any, longer trains might have on operations.
Figuring out how to encourage more shippers to switch from truck to rail is not something that can be done overnight, executives said during CSX’s second-quarter 2023 earnings call.
Volume and pricing gains for CSX’s merchandise segment weren’t enough to offset a decline in intermodal volumes and falling export coal benchmark prices, CSX said.
Sites in Arizona, Alabama and elsewhere are being prepared to host rail-served industrial facilities.
Democrats said they respect workers’ rights to strike in the event negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS fail.
Data visibility tech providers IntelliTrans and Nexxiot have created a product designed to give bulk and break-bulk shippers information about a rail car’s whereabouts.
Fiscal year 2023 volumes tracked more with 2021 volumes than with 2022, which had experienced an unprecedented cargo boom, according to South Carolina Ports.
U.S. rail imports from Vancouver and Prince Rupert are imperiled again. ILWU Canada has rejected the proposed dockworkers contract.
Union Pacific will expand the utility role in Nebraska and Colorado and make it more responsive to train movements.
Now that the labor strike at Canada’s ports is over, it’s time to take a look at the delays it created.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Rio Grande Foundation and others are urging senators to leave some items out of the rail safety bill before Congress.
Although international intermodal traffic has come to a halt at the Canadian West Coast ports since the start of the work stoppage on July 1, carload volumes for commodities such as coal and grain have grown, according to supply chain data visibility firm RailState.
The Surface Transportation Board will look into whether freight rail operations are affecting the on-time performance of Amtrak’s passenger rail service between New Orleans and Los Angeles.
Union Pacific and the union representing train conductors have reached a sick leave agreement.
U.S. imports via Canadian ports face rising fallout as the war of words escalates between dockworkers and employers.
The Association of American Railroads is suing the state of Ohio over its new law on freight train crew sizes.
As the labor strike continues at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, Class I railroads are taking steps to ensure that their networks face minimal disruptions.
The rail industry has taken steps to prevent another Lac-Mégantic derailment, but more needs to be done, said the chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants President Joe Biden to declare East Palestine a disaster area, while Norfolk Southern calls for rail car owners associated with the Feb. 3 derailment to help pay cleanup costs.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are looking at the idea of using the battery systems of battery-electric locomotives as a way to back up the U.S. power grid.
The Greenbrier Companies sees “steady production” as the rail equipment manufacturer prepares to close out its 2023 fiscal year.
The Reliable Rail Service Act would charge the Surface Transportation Board to provide more clarity on the freight railroads’ common carrier obligation.
Research and development initiatives in the freight rail industry should turn their focus on integrating systems that are typically siloed in railroad operations, sources tell FreightWaves.
Some families of victims of deadly railway accidents say railway police are torn between seeking the truth and protecting the company name. Railroads say safeguards are in place.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City, CSX and Genesee & Wyoming railroads aim to establish a direct interchange connection near Myrtlewood, Alabama.
The Surface Transportation Board has ordered BNSF to meet the Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s request for more coal trains.
A train derailment Saturday morning sent multiple tanker cars carrying hazardous materials into the Yellowstone River.
“There are qualified mechanical inspectors at all these points, and they were not allowed to inspect this car at any of those locations,” Jason Cox, of the Transportation Communications Union, testified at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing Friday.
Class I railroads CPKC and CSX are working together on developing CPKC’s conversion kits that can retrofit diesel locomotives into hydrogen locomotives.
A research note from investment firm Cowen predicts reciprocal switching will hurt U.S. Class I railroads financially.
The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, to garner more information on why the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train happened.
CPKC and Americold are collaborating on building a refrigerated service network for markets in the Midwest and Mexico.
BNSF is seeking a waiver from the Federal Railroad Administration to expand a brake health technology program, and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen supports the effort.
The heads of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers want swift action on the rail safety bill that passed the Senate Commerce Committee last month.
About $2.3 trillion was spent to keep the nation’s logistics system operating in 2022, according to the 34th State of Logistics Report.
The new regulations calling for zero-emissions configurations by as early as 2030 are too lofty in part because technologies are not yet commercially viable.
Colonial Terminals plans to expand its breakbulk operations along the Savannah River in Georgia. The company recently acquired land that’s adjacent to its current facility and to Norfolk Southern’s network.
Three groups representing state and local governments have asked Senate leaders to move forward with debate on the rail safety bill.
Calls to remove Surface Transportation Board Chairman Marty Oberman are misguided in light of regulatory efforts that Oberman and the current board have undertaken, labor groups tell President Joe Biden.
The Association of American Railroads has outlined eight ways that the freight rail industry and the federal government can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Passenger rail advocates call for swift action to resolve Amtrak’s substandard on-time performance for its Sunset Limited service. But freight rail supporters say better data is needed to assess what the problems are.
CPKC seeks to extend or make permanent a waiver that allows the railway to dispatch trains for three locations at its Calgary office.
The Federal Railroad Administration is planning to expand its assessment of safety culture to include all of the Class I railroads, the agency’s head said recently.
A federal court in Canada sided with union members and determined that Canadian Pacific had failed to adequately limit the number of hours that train crews worked in a number of instances in 2018 and 2019.
Canadian railway CN is monitoring wildfires across several provinces and is adjusting operations as needed.
The Mexican government is offering incentives to attract investors to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec global trade hub project.
Iron Senergy will use three autonomous rail cars manufactured by Intramotev on a 17-mile line between its Cumberland mine and a western Pennsylvania facility.
Union Pacific and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have reached a deal that will provide locomotive engineers with up to seven days of paid sick leave.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has vetoed a bill that would have restricted freight train lengths to 7,500 feet. State union representatives said they will continue to press legislators on the issue.
Norfolk Southern and yardmasters affiliated with SMART-TD have struck a tentative deal on sick leave.
The Federal Railroad Administration has doled out more than $570 million in funding for projects designed to reduce or eliminate highway-grade crossings.
Technology might not be the only thing causing the freight rail industry to pivot. The industry’s relationships with its workforce and its customers might also be transitioning, suggested some speakers at the North American Rail Shippers conference.
How industry stakeholders are responding to efforts to legislate rail safety reforms was one of the themes percolating at the recent North American Rail Shippers annual conference.
Two regulations proposed by the Federal Railroad Administration call for freight railroads to create programs to certify train dispatchers and signal employees.
Union Pacific’s expanded service allows ocean carriers and BCOs to utilize on-dock rail at the Barbours Cut Container Terminal at Port Houston.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City is adding 1,000 refrigerated intermodal containers to its Mexico railroad business.
Surface Transportation Board Chair Marty Oberman at a national rail shippers conference urged the railroads to increase their employee levels as a way to improve rail service.
BNSF is offering additional sick leave days to some members allifated with SMART-TD.
Rail has been featured in movies, television, radio and all forms of entertainment since the beginning of trains. We collaborated to narrow down a list of some of our favorite movies that are related to trains.
Navajo Transitional Energy Co. is asking the Surface Transportation Board to declare an emergency service order that would compel BNSF to ship more export coal from the company.
Union Pacific and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have struck a deal that addresses how train engineers might have a better work-life balance.
NS employees received a letter signed by President and CEO Alan Shaw and the presidents of 12 unions pledging collaboration to improve rail safety.
The unions blast the Class I railroads’ public statements on the railroads’ efforts to bolster employee head count in a filing to the Surface Transportation Board.
BNSF will expand intermodal service offerings between Alliance, Texas, and its facility at the Port of Houston, which could benefit the markets of Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver.
Rail service may have improved but that shouldn’t relieve the Surface Transportation Board from pursuing shipper-friendly regulatory reforms, shippers say.
Norfolk Southern and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have reached a deal over sick leave.
The Surface Transportation Board is grappling with fallout from its March decision to approve the CP-KCS merger. Three progressive groups want STB Chairman Marty Oberman stripped of his role, while western Chicago suburbs have filed a lawsuit against the board.
The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO wants Congress to pass a rail safety bill that addresses train crew sizes, train lengths and inspection times.
Kennan Beard, president of the California Short Line Railroad Association and president and CEO of the Sierra Northern Railway, talks to FreightWaves about why he thinks CARB’s new regulation governing locomotive emissions isn’t well thought out.
Intramotev will use the $200,000 grant to test and deploy three self-propelled rail cars in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in late 2023.
A hearing held by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on freight rail supply chain challenges focused on a range of topics.
The Senate Commerce Committee passed the Railway Safety Act, sending the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. But will it have smooth sailing?
Canadian Pacific Kansas City is building its intermodal service between points in the U.S. Midwest and Mexico, announcing a new daily service that aims to take away market share from trucks.
Fuels feedstock manufacturer Oleo-X has a new production facility on CSX’s network in Mississippi.
Higher expenses and lower carload volumes contributed to a year-over-year dip in BNSF’s net profits for the first quarter.
Union Pacific wants a federal court to review STB’s approval of the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
Shippers want Congress to expand FMC’s power over rail storage fees, but shipping lines say the power is already in the hands of the STB.
Truck transportation jobs rose in April, defying the worst forecasts from the freight recession.
CPKC and Canadian coal producer Teck Resources’ new service agreement includes a pilot program in which CPKC will test out its hydrogen locomotives to transport Teck’s coal.
Reduced North American rail traffic isn’t dampening the outlook for these rail equipment manufacturers and rail car lessors.
In the wake of the East Palestine train derailment, Congress is poised to take action to improve rail safety. Here’s how they can do it.
Union Pacific, BNSF and Norfolk Southern need to go further in improving rail service, according to a Surface Transportation Board decision requiring the railroads to submit service performance reports.
Maritime and logistics services company Crowley and Canadian railway CN have joined in a new service that will connect Canada, the Midwest and the Gulf Coast of Mexico.
Union members working for CSX and CN said they have ratified labor agreements with their employers.
FreightWaves discussed with Railroad Workers United organizer Ron Kaminkow what craft union employees need from the railroads to improve morale.
Norfolk Southern and SMART-TD, the union group representing train conductors that work at NS, have reached a tentative agreement that addresses scheduling issues and sick leave.
The impact of the movement of trade to the East Coast and Gulf ports can no longer be denied in the railroad data.
