North-American rail

Horizon Lines said its onetime parent, CSX, agreed to a $3 million annual reduction in charter rates on three ships Horizon leases from CSX.

Major U.S. railroads and the United Transportation Union, reached a tentative five-year contract agreement that runs through December 2014.

Norfolk Southern Railroad is starting to build its Memphis Regional Intermodal Facility, planned as a western anchor of its latest cross-country double-stack route, as railroad and state officials hel

Alabama and other states nearby are trying to clear away debris that hampers transportation systems and to restore power to businesses and homes, following a devastating tornado outbreak this week tha

Genesee & Wyoming, the U.S. short line and regional rail company, will launch dedicated terminal shunting and feeder services in the port of Antwerp.

Norfolk Southern Railway's profit rose 26 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to $325 million, outpacing a 17 percent gain in rail operating revenue to $2.6 billion.

The Department of Transportation is sending California a $100 million grant to buy locomotives and passenger cars for two rail routes shared with freight railroads.

Canadian National Railway boosted its profit 31 percent in the first quarter to nearly US$702 million and raised its full-year financial outlook.

Severe spring storms are hampering freight transportation in the Midwest, as several major railroads closed tracks from as far south as Texas to as far north as Canada.

North America’s small and regional railroads are enjoying a surge in traffic so far in 2011, with overall volume up 9 percent and some important cargoes growing by double digits.

Kansas City Southern, the smallest of the North American Class I railroads, posted a $63 million profit in the first quarter, up 91 percent from the 2010 period.

Canadian Pacific Railway saw its first quarter earnings plunge 67 percent from a year earlier to nearly $36 million (U.S.

The seven largest freight railroads had more workers in their U.S. operations as of mid-March than any time since February 2009, the Surface Transportation Board reported.

Union Pacific Railroad saw its profit rise 24 percent from a year earlier to $639 million in the 2011 first quarter as traffic grew across the board in its major cargo categories.

Union Pacific's freight volume is increasing steadily since the depths of the economic recession, but there is no concern in Omaha about UP's ability to handle the growing traffic.

Eastern-U.S.

Spring floods across the northern Great Plains are closing some tracks for major railroads and short lines, delaying some shipments and detouring others.

A newly finalized $10 million federal grant should help the Port of Vancouver, Wash., get its long-planned West Vancouver Freight Access project done, which the Department of Transportation says will

Short line operator RailAmerica is buying the assets of three small freight railroads in Alabama for a total price of $12.7 million in cash.

Railcar owners across the U.S., Canada and Mexico took 22,667 cars of various types out of storage during March, shrinking the idled fleet to 18.7 percent of the total as freight traffic continues to

CN acquired more than 1,000 new containers, which the railroad expects to use to serve manufacturers and distributors of grocery and consumer goods in domestic markets across Canada.

Washington state and federal officials reached agreement to formally obligate another $145 million to that state's passenger rail program.

A $3.3 million federal grant to build 2 miles of track in upstate New York will ease “significant congestion” for a freight rail yard and Amtrak passenger service, said the Department of Transportatio

The latest week's bulk and large-unit railcar loadings at major U.S. freight railroads were the highest since late 2008, or before the traffic plunge that followed the financial collapse that year.

Railcar and barge builder Greenbrier Companies almost broke even in its fiscal second quarter ending Feb.

The Federal Railroad Administration's permanent ban on use of electronic devices, including cellphones, became effective March 28, as

The Obama administration's embattled passenger rail program got a solid line of endorsements this week, when applications poured in seeking $10 billion in grants for 90 track projects, most of which w

With New Mexico Gov.

Savage Companies and Kansas City Southern have entered into a joint development agreement as the companies look to take advantage of dev

Union Pacific brought out a rarely used rotary snowplow to clear away heavy snow which halted train traffic across California's Donner Pass for five days in March.

A major rail corridor project in Illinois gets under way this weekend, as crews begin the biggest upgrade of tracks in a route owned by Union Pacific Railroad so that 110-mph Amtrak passenger trains c

Canadian National Railway sold a section of track in and around Toronto to the Ontario agency Metrolinx for about $308 million.

Canadian Pacific Railway unveiled a plan to spend nearly $103 million in its North Dakota network this year and next, and said it should aid several big commodity cargo groups there.

Citing severe winter weather and a lag in fuel surcharges catching up with a surge in diesel prices, Cana

North Carolina and Norfolk Southern Railway struck an accord on how to spend $461 million in federal grant funds that will improve both freight and inter-city passenger rail service in a key part of t

Norfolk Southern Railway will record expenses of at least $58 million linked to its deadly 2005 Graniteville, S.C., train derailment, after the carrier received an unfavorable insurance claim ruling.

A Canadian government plan to legislate new freight rail rules triggered complaints by the country’s two major railroads, while shippers hailed the results of a federal review of rail service.

The seven largest freight railroads added a combined 1,198 workers to their U.S.

New Mexico’s legislature could be poised to exempt Union Pacific Railroad from a locomotive sales tax, to entice UP to build a major intermodal and multi-purpose rail facility just inside the state bo

U.S. freight rail lines in 2010 completed their safest year on record by several measures, said the Association of American Railroads based on preliminary government data.