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!
Rail shippers largely welcome a reciprocal switching rule proposed last week by the Surface Transportation Board, but some wish it did more to incentivize rail competition.
Regulatory policy expert Rosyln Layton says it’s dangerous to have the Surface Transportation Board lay the grounds for defining how rail service should look under the common carrier obligation.
Expanded service offerings, such as a reduction in transit time for the Falcon Premium intermodal service, should help support Union Pacific in the third and fourth quarters, UP leaders said at an investor conference this week.
Parallel Systems unveiled Tuesday another second-generation, battery-powered autonomous rail vehicle, which is slated for use in pilot projects both in the U.S. and abroad. Through this iteration of the autonomous rail vehicle, Los Angeles-based Parallel Systems will be looking at how its autonomous rail vehicle performs with the broader rail network. It said it is […]
Union Pacific is asking the Federal Railroad Administration for more details on the safety defects that federal inspectors reportedly found during focused inspections this summer.
Canadian railway CN and Norfolk Southern are partnering to create a domestic intermodal service that will connect Canadian customers with markets in the U.S. Southeast.
Union Pacific plans to respond this week to concerns of Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose that the railroad is being cavalier in ensuring its locomotives are safe.
Mike Cory, CN’s former chief operating officer, will be CSX’s new COO.
The new service will provide a direct connection from the Port of Savannah to CSX’s intermodal terminal in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
After years of wrangling over the issue, the Surface Transportation Board has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on reciprocal switching that will seek to define the service parameters where a switching action could take place.
House Oversight Committee Republicans are accusing U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of not acting on the DOT inspector general’s recommendations for improving aviation and rail safety.
Norfolk Southern and DrayNow will further develop technology for intermodal that provides real-time information on first- and last-mile movements.
Rail service for the 2023-2024 crop year in Canada is expected to be smooth — provided that weather conditions and unforeseen global events cooperate.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is temporarily suspending a 2020 rule that allows the transport of liquefied natural gas in specialized cryogenic tank cars.
A defect with the data storage system that Norfolk Southern uses may have caused NS’ primary and recovery data systems to become unresponsive, NS said Friday.
A decline in rail volumes has led Union Pacific to store locomotives — which in turn has led to furloughs of at least 94 employees, according to a union official.
Operations temporarily ceased in limited areas of CSX’s network as Hurricane Idalia swept through Florida and Georgia.
Jacksonville, Florida-based Gulf & Atlantic Railways is acquiring the Pioneer Valley Railroad in Massachusetts and operating the revamped Grenada Railroad.
The National Transportation Safety Board will focus on employee training methods and industry practices on clearance as it continues its investigation of an Aug. 6 conductor trainee fatality at a Maryland CSX rail yard.
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