How freight rail fueled a new luxury overnight train startup
A California startup wants to repurpose a lightly used freight route for a luxury overnight train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.
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!
A California startup wants to repurpose a lightly used freight route for a luxury overnight train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Short line Cumberland & Knox made its debut last weekend with a 56-mile run in Maine.
Norfolk Southern board chair Claude Mongeau, who guided the panel after a failed takeover, has resigned.
BNSF Railway introduced the First Mile/Last Mile team dedicated to development of single-carload traffic.
The Surface Transportation Board has opened a formal review of Watco’s acquisition of Michigan rail short line Great Lakes Central.
Union Pacific and partner ZTR said they have completed testing of a hybrid battery-electric locomotive.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services has expanded its premium intermodal offering, Quantum, to businesses in Mexico.
Wells Fargo is selling its rail leasing equipment business to a joint venture of GATX Corp. and Brookfield Infrastructure.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling, clearing the way for a rail line that would move Utah crude oil to the national rail network.
Freight on U.S. railroads posted another win against year-ago shipments.
In the calm before the surge, BNSF is confident its network can handle the coming wave of import containers from Asia.
The Greenbrier Cos. has added Ted Baun as senior vice president of its North American commercial team.
After small railroad volume growth outperformed the Class I, Norfolk Southern is expanding an interchange program to more than 260 shortline partners.
Short line railroads and their stakeholders took their legislative wishlist to Washington for the annual Congressional lobby event.
Coal remained the commodity leader as U.S. rail carloads stayed ahead of year-ago levels.
Intermodal volumes so far seem to be dodging the “air pocket” expected in the wake of steep tariffs on goods from China.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are looking for a new harbor rail operator for the first time since 1998.
Railroad executives told an investors conference that future mergers face likely insurmountable regulatory hurdles.
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs has added a team of public-private advisers as he reforms the federal freight rail regulator.
The ITS Logistics US Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index shows looming issues at rail terminals and an early peak season ahead.
Coordinated effort is vital to optimizing use of the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s busiest port complex, says Canadian National CEO Tracy Robinson.
Eastbound international container volume out of Southern California was down 5% from the prior week and 10% compared to the four-week rolling average, according to RailState.
It’s a whole new freight market from what it was just a month ago, according to the May State of Freight webinar.
Cross-border tensions are moderating Canadian National’s outlook, but its CEO still expects around 3% growth in freight volumes this year.
U.S. railroads carried more freight in the most recent week from a year ago, according to the latest industry data.
Talk of mergers is making the rounds of Class I railroads as a way to kick-start growth and take advantage of a business-friendly Trump administration.
Rebuilding after hurricane damage and rerouting around a Baltimore tunnel project cost CSX a million dollars a day in lost revenue in the first quarter, a company executive told an investor conference.
David Fink, President Trump’s nominee to oversee rail safety in the U.S., was questioned Tuesday about his own safety record as former head of a railroad.
Union Pacific President Beth Whited will step down to an adviser role after 37 years at the railroad.
BNSF has laid off a number of workers as it restructures its technology operations.
The Association of American Railroads is asking the Trump administration to repeal a Biden-era rule requiring two-person train crews.
Railcar builder FreightCar America said net income was $50.4 million on revenue of $96.3 million in the first quarter.
Volumes by carload at Grupo Mexico’s transportation division fell 6.1% in the first quarter, including declines of 21% in automotive traffic and 20% in minerals traffic.
Pricing gains and volume growth spurred BNSF Railway to modestly higher first-quarter profits.
Carload volumes for North American railroads are still running ahead of year-ago levels.
Most major railroads maintained their 2025 outlooks even amid worries about trade and the economy.
Canadian National saw 8% earnings growth and had an improved operating ratio in the first quarter.
CN said cost control and disciplined operations helped it to better revenue and profits in the first quarter.
The latest heritage unit to join Union Pacific’s fleet honors Abraham Lincoln, who enabled the building of the transcontinental railroad.
CPKC CEO Keith Creel says the railroad, which reported higher revenue and profits for the first quarter, is “off to a strong start” for the year.
New legislation would upgrade a federal tax credit short line railroads depend on for infrastructure spending.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City said earnings rose on higher revenue and increased freight on its network.
Shortline rail operator Maine Switching Services has signed a lease agreement to restart operations on a coastal Maine branch line.
Freight carriers are pressuring Congress and the Trump administration to address the rise in “strategic” cargo theft.
Supply chain businesses ranging from rail to trucking to warehousing saw layoffs and bankruptcies throughout April, as tariffs and other economic factors slam freight markets.
The Surface Transportation Board will decide whether Union Pacific is blocking rival BNSF from accessing a Utah logistics park.
A new shortline railroad helped mark the ribbon-cutting on a multimodal development at Indiana’s largest port.
With Chinese imports tanking and fewer calls expected at West Coast ports, many empty containers won’t have a way back to Asia.
Union Pacific has brought a rare trackage rights dispute with BNSF to the Surface Transportation Board.
Railcar owner GATX won’t have to help pay the $600 million settlement related to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, a jury decided.
Falling fuel surcharge revenue offset record freight revenue for Class I railroad Union Pacific in the first quarter.
Union Pacific said first-quarter earnings were flat as the railroad’s volume gains were offset by the mix of freight on its network.
Growth in its freight and transit business segments powered higher first-quarter revenue and earnings at rail technology company Wabtec.
Flat revenue and a “vicious winter” didn’t keep Norfolk Southern from posting improved first-quarter profits.
Norfolk Southern shook off severe winter weather in the first three months of the year to post improved operating income in the first quarter.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a CSX appeal regarding an antitrust suit over access to Norfolk International Terminals.
Congestion hurt volumes and revenue in CSX’s first quarter.
Parallel Systems says its autonomous electric railcars will begin testing on two Georgia railroads this month.
A bipartisan bill in Congress would tackle the burgeoning problem of rail cargo theft.
Shortline railroads are precisely the business partners that major railroads need to stanch a decline in the carload business, a consultant says.
Rail traffic in the U.S. rose 11.2% for the week that ended Saturday – the sixth straight increase.
The upgrade of a critical tax credit and federal grants were in focus at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association conference.
The strength in ocean bookings today will not translate into domestic freight volumes until May at the earliest.
Patricks Fuchs, President Trump’s pick to lead the Surface Transportation Board, wants to speed up decision-making to help railroads grow their business.
Genesee & Wyoming short line Central Oregon & Pacific can take over local operations from Union Pacific in Eugene, Oregon, as early as Saturday, federal regulators say.
Canadian National workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will get a 3% annual pay raise under an arbitrator’s contract decision.
The chief executive of Union Pacific says his railroad will work through trade uncertainties the same way it worked through the tech bubble and the pandemic.
Two trade-dependent intermodal projects by BNSF Railway will move forward despite the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariffs.
Truck transportation jobs in March rose by the largest amount since the start of 2022.
A partnership of BNSF, Norfolk Southern and the Northwest Seaport Alliance are offering expedited service from the Pacific Northwest to the Chicago rail hub.
Trump eases pain on trucking and rail by excluding from reciprocal tariffs goods that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Railroad stocks dropped after President Trump’s announcement Wednesday of tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Weekly U.S. rail carloads surged to the strongest year-on-year improvement in nearly three months.
BNSF’s group vice president for industrial products has been named chief executive of shortline rail operator OmniTRAX.
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE: CP) and the Lanco Group/Mi-Jack have sold the Panama Canal Railway to APM Terminals, a global terminal operator and an independent division of A.P. Moller-Maersk (XCSE: MAERSKa). The 47.6-mile railway provides ocean-to-ocean freight and passenger services along the Panama Canal and has been a 50/50 joint venture […]
Railroads in January saw their share of North American transborder trade slip as trucks posted double-digit gains.
With an international intermodal surge winding down, analyst Larry Gross pins his hopes on domestic intermodal share gains.
Class 1 railroads saw mixed results in Q4 of 2024, but consultant Oliver Wyman sees a steadier year ahead.
In the March State of Freight webinar, Craig Fuller and Zach Strickland talked about a freight market on the verge of auto tariffs.
Union Pacific is partnering with Jaguar Transport Holdings to establish a new shortline railroad in Kansas City, Missouri’s West Bottoms industrial district.
For a fourth straight week, U.S. rail traffic has recorded an increase of more than 5% over the same week a year earlier. Statistics from the Association of American Railroads for the week ending March 22 show total traffic was 496,214 carloads and intermodal units, a 5.5% increase over the same week in 2024. That […]
Canada’s largest railroads see mixed progress at the country’s busiest container gateway.
BNSF Railway said customers invested $4.2 billion in industrial projects on its network in 2024.
In the latest episode of the Bring It Home podcast, Norfolk Southern executive Stefan Loeb discussed the role of railroads in America’s reindustrialization.
Norfolk Southern has expanded its offerings of certified rail-served properties for industrial site development.
Port fees on Chinese ships are aimed at boosting U.S. shipbuilding but could have follow-on effects for intermodal traffic, too.
The National Transportation Safety Board said proper risk assessment by the state of Maryland could have averted the collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge that killed six road workers in 2024.
More than 8,700 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference ratified a new contract with the railroads of the National Carriers’ Conference Committee.
Rail traffic in the U.S. is staying ahead of 2024 levels, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Wabtec says it is acquiring Dellner Couplers, a Swedish manufacturer of passenger couplers and equipment, in a $960 million deal.
Rail services provider County Line Rail has acquired short line Sabine River & Northern in east Texas.
Green Eagle Railroad’s proposed 1.3-mile line would be part of a secure corridor linking Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The Surface Transportation Board will examine a proposal by Norfolk Southern for formal control of Virginia terminal railroad Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line.
CSX is detouring well over a dozen trains daily now that the Howard Street Tunnel project is underway in Baltimore.
A joint venture led by shortline operator OmniTRAX has acquired the Santa Maria Valley Railroad in California’s Central Coast region.
CPKC has modeled scenarios involving tariffs and trade and says that even in the worst-case scenario, the railway can hit its target for double-digit earnings growth this year.
Patriot Rail is partnering with CPKC to construct a transload facility in Denton, Texas, to handle an array of commodities and products.
Weekly U.S. rail traffic posted a 5.5% gain from the year-ago period as coal and grain led commodity gainers, according to the Association of American Railroads.
CSX is using fewer trains to move more tonnage in 2025, CFO Sean Pelkey said.
Norfolk Southern said it is not out of the ordinary for the Justice Department to look into a case involving antitrust allegations by fellow Class I railroad CSX.