Railroad News

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is moving ahead with a proposal to allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be moved by rail in DOT-113 tank cars.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), announced late last week that it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to allow LNG to be transported by rail tank car.

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VIA Rail Canada Inc. posted a 1.2 percent ridership increase during Canada's Thanksgiving holiday weekend compared with the same period in 2018. 

For the second consecutive year, over 100,000 passengers traveled on the network Oct. 10-15 during the long holiday weekend, VIA Rail officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific announced this week that the 2019 Holiday Train, the Class I's annual charity event to raise hunger awareness, will run Nov. 25 through Dec. 18.

Decorated with thousands of colorful and glittering lights, the trains will depart on the U.S. tour on Nov. 25 and the Canadian tour, Nov. 26.

Transportation industry and government leaders were among those offering statements and condolences on the passing of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who died early yesterday due to complications of longstanding health challenges. He was 68.

Cummings chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. He also was a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I), where he served on the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, as well as the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on Oct. 21 will launch a one-year pilot commuter-rail service between Boston and Foxborough, Massachusetts. 

The pilot will offer 10 round-trip weekday trains between Foxboro Station and South Station via the Fairmount and Franklin Lines. 

New Jersey Transit's board earlier this week awarded Walsh Construction Co. a $40 million contract for the first phase of construction to fill and level a canal next to the Hudson Bergen light-rail tracks and the Hoboken yards to reduce the impact of flooding on rail service.

The one-third-mile "Long Slip" canal had been used for shipping traffic, but has been inactive for more than 40 years. In 2012, the canal overflowed its banks during Hurricane Sandy, which caused significant flood damage to the Hoboken yard, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

Improving Amtrak's on-time performance (OTP) by 5 percentage points on all routes would result in $12.1 million in financial benefits to the railroad in just one year, Amtrak's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported this week.

The benefits would include $8.2 million in reduced costs and $3.9 million in increased revenue, OIG officials said in a press release.

Kansas City Southern logged record third-quarter 2019 revenue of $747.7 million, a 7 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago, the Class I announced today.

The railroad was helped by a 21 percent increase in refined fuel shipments to Mexico, as well as cost-cutting efforts. Overall, carload volumes were flat in the quarter compared with last year, KCS officials said in a press release.

The holiday season is upon us and I hope you are spending time with your families, enjoying the fall foliage, and not indulging in too many pumpkin-spiced treats! As always, I want to touch on “Safety First” in everything we do. Make sure that you don’t allow the holidays to distract you from working safely and finishing the year with a strong safety record!

In September, I attended the Railway Interchange Exhibition and Conference in Minneapolis with many of you. It was an excellent event, well organized, as always. The technical presentations were timely and informative. The exhibits were a great opportunity for our board of directors and NRC staff to visit with NRC members at their booths, and see emerging products and technologies in our industry. Additionally, the NRC had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion with FRA Administrator Ron Batory and his staff to discuss the FRA R&D program and technology trends.

Metra yesterday announced that on Oct. 31, Union Pacific Railroad will close the on-site ticket office at the Evanston Central Street Station in Evanston, Illinois, due to declining on-site sales.

Located on the UP North Line, the station sold an average of 940 tickets per month this year. The station sells the fewest tickets of all of UP’s ticket agent-staffed locations, Metra officials said in a press release.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) is holding four community meetings this month to gather input on five potential routes for the northern extension of the Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line.

The extension ultimately will provide a direct rail connection to the South Bay, Los Angeles International Airport area, South Los Angeles, Inglewood, Crenshaw Corridor, Mid-City, Central Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Hollywood communities. The alternative routes would either extend the Crenshaw Line north to the Purple Line subway and then through West Hollywood to the Red Line, or to the Red and Purple lines at Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard near LA's Koreatown neighborhood.

A tax dispute with the local government has prompted the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR) to end passenger train rides out of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

LGSR officials announced yesterday that Andy Muller Jr., president and chief executive officer of the LGSR and its sister railroad and operator Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (RBMN), has decided to end the passenger rides out of the community starting in late November.

The decline in U.S. freight-rail traffic continued during the week ending Oct. 12, with railroads reporting increases in just two of 10 commodity categories tracked weekly by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. railroads posted 510,820 carloads and intermodal units for the week, down 7 percent compared with the same week in 2018. The number of U.S. roads' carloads dropped 7.5 percent to 243,807 units, while the number of intermodal containers and trailers fell 6.6 percent to 267,013, according to AAR data.

During 2018, Norfolk Southern Corp. decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent year over year and achieved an all-time best operating ratio of 65 percent, according to the Class I's 12th annual Corporate Social Responsibility report.

Released yesterday, the report details NS' environmental, economic and social impacts during 2018 and early 2019.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) yesterday announced Danny Simpson as the 2019 recipient of the Holden-Proefrock Award, and 41 recipients of the 2018 Non-Accident Release (NAR) Grand Slam Awards. 

The awards are given annually to individuals, shippers and railroads operating in hazardous material fields.

Despite lower revenue, CSX posted a 3 percent increase in net earnings and a company record low operating ratio (OR) for third-quarter 2019 compared to the same period a year ago, the Class I reported yesterday.

Third-quarter revenue fell 5 percent to $2.98 billion, as merchandise revenue growth was more than offset by coal and intermodal declines. CSX decreased expenses by 8 percent year over year to $1.69 billion, driven by continued efficiency gains and volume-related savings, CSX officials said in a press release.

Compiled by Vesna Brajkovic, Associate Editor