North-American rail

A one-two punch of falling intermodal volume and weakness in the coal market hit Norfolk Southern Railway hard in the third quarter, prompting railroad executives to downplay expectations for the rest of the year.

The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday approved a three-year deadline extension for U.S. railroads to install new safety technology, avoiding a catastrophe that railroads have said would cripple the network fluidity intermodal shippers depend on.

CSX Transportation will launch a new domestic intermodal rail service next week connecting the Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and Texas in a bid to compete directly with the railway’s over-the-road competitors.

Months after the protracted labor negotiations that disrupted port operations on the U.S. West Coast came to an end, Union Pacific Railroad said West Coast diversions were still taking a toll on intermodal volume in the third quarter.

Kansas City Southern Railway said less-than-par intermodal service is turning a corner after reliability cost the railroad volume in the third quarter.

Canadian Pacific Railway’s domestic intermodal push seems to have lost its steam.

Falling intermodal volumes contributed to another weak quarter for Kansas City Southern Railway.

After more than a decade, nearly $4 billion worth of infrastructure improvements in Chicago are nearly complete. City, state and industry leaders say they are working, helping the city shake its reputation as the nation’s longtime transportation bottleneck.

CSX Transportation won back cargo lost to over-the-road competitors and made modest intermodal gains in the third quarter, but it was still not enough to stem the flow of money out of the company.

There isn’t much to Rossville, Tennessee, in the far eastern reaches of metropolitan Memphis: rolling farmland, stretches of highway and a Norfolk Southern Railway terminal.

President Obama’s decision to enforce the end-of-year deadline for U.S. railroads to install new safety technology will hurt the network fluidity intermodal shippers depend on, a Norfolk Southern Railway executive said Thursday.

A developer is adding more than half a million square feet of speculative industrial space at BNSF Railway’s Logistics Park Kansas City.

Booming business at Union Pacific Railroad’s intermodal ramp in North Laredo, Texas is spurring a $90 million expansion at the facility tapping U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade.

U.S. domestic intermodal spot rates are jumping anywhere from $500 to $1,000 on peak season demand, but it won’t last long, according to third-party logistics provider IDS.

Wick Moorman, who retired as Norfolk Southern Railway's chief executive in June, will formally step down from the executive chairman post on Oct. 1. President and CEO Jim Squires, deemed Moorman's successor in all other capacities, will become the railroad company’s chairman as well.

Norfolk Southern Railway is downsizing and refocusing its Triple Crown Services subsidiary on the transport of automotive parts and moving non-auto part business to other NS intermodal lanes.

U.S. shippers say they are having a harder time shifting freight from the roads to intermodal rail, but those that have already done so say they are sticking with rail service.

Tiger Cool Express is making some major moves on the personnel and asset front, hiring two industry veterans to help handle the tripling of the reefer intermodal service provider’s domestic equipment fleet.

CSX Transportation’s President and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Munoz, who was widely viewed at the top candidate to take over the Class I railroad, is leaving the company to take the helm of airline holding company United Continental.

U.S. Intermodal volume growth was still chugging along in August, despite a slower-than-hoped-for recovery in both the country’s economy and train speeds.

Norfolk Southern Railway announced it will be realigning its executive reporting structure for two key departments, the latest in a series of leadership shakeups the railroad has announced since the start of the year.

As peak season nears, U.S. domestic intermodal spot rates last month fell to their lowest point since September 2012, a result of intense competition from the over-the-road sector and weaker than usual demand, according to third-party logistics provider IDS.

Last week U.S. intermodal volume growth hit its fastest pace in roughly two months.

Despite flatlining train speeds and persisting service issues, U.S. intermodal volumes have increased to their highest level in more than two months.

U.S. truckload rates continued to rise in July and domestic intermodal pricing dropped, as shippers continued to find it more and more difficult to justify converting business from highway to rail, according to Cass Information Systems and Avondale Partners.

Canadian National Railway’s President and CEO Claude Mongeau said Wednesday he will take a three-month leave of absence to address significant health concerns.

Norfolk Southern Railway says infrastructure improvements and added locomotives are improving network velocity, but the railroad’s intermodal train speeds, an indicator of network reliability, tell a different story.

Shippers wanting to better track their containers railed from Europe to Asia have a new option, reflecting not only the rush of interest in the rapidly growing trade lane but also the persistent threats of theft — often from customs inspectors.

Canadian National Railway plans to invest C$20 million to expand its cold supply chain capacity to help producers and distributors of chilled and frozen foods increase business in North American and overseas markets.

Intermodal shippers using Kansas City Southern Railway can expect improve after train speeds slowed during recent track work, and a surge of coal and crude oil volumes hit the network.

In the latest leadership change at Norfolk Southern Corporation, the company announced Tuesday that Deborah Butler, chief information officer and executive vice president of planning, will be retiring October 1.

With carload volume, particularly coal shipments, declining and railroads’ enviable profit growth slowing, the acknowledgement shared during second-quarter earnings calls that intermodal has lost share to truck reflects not only the dynamism of surface transportation but a rare case in which railroads must step up their game or lose valuable business.

Kansas City Southern Railway’s new Wylie Intermodal Terminal will not only help handle anticipated growth in intermodal conversion in the Dallas area, but strengthen the railroad’s networks serving Mexico and the U.S. Southeast.

BNSF Railway is cracking down on dwell times in its intermodal terminals in an effort to improve circulation and prepare for recent and anticipated growth in intermodal traffic.

Norfolk Southern Railway’s second-quarter earnings this year were not unlike its Class I counterparts: modest intermodal growth unable to combat declining fuel surcharge revenue and a soft coal market.

Canadian National Railway is working to replicate the success it’s had at Canada’s Port of Prince Rupert in the warmer waters of Mobile, Alabama.

Increased intermodal traffic and higher rates on cargo weren’t enough to offset significant overall freight and coal losses in the second quarter for Union Pacific Railroad.

Still riding a wave of U.S.-bound intermodal cargo, Canadian National Railway surprised Wall Street analysts this week, posting a better-than-anticipated second quarter.

Canadian Pacific Railway’s domestic intermodal push appears to be losing steam after the railroad's volume growth decelerated to slowest pace in nearly a year.

Canadian National Railway net income rose $4.6 million year-over-year in the second quarter, as intermodal volume and revenue growth, along with improved operations, offset carload softness.