North-American rail

Operation Lifesaver’s public awareness campaigns will get $1.015 million from the federal government, to help reduce the hundreds of deaths yearly from automobile drivers and pedestrians getting

A traffic recovery for large U.S. railroads picked up steam in the week ending Aug. 1, adding to signs that freight demand may be on a sustained climb from recession lows.

Canadian Pacific Railway will shed ownership but not its offices in the historic Windsor Station building in Montreal, selling it and some other real estate for $80 million to Cadillac Fairview.

The head of the United Transportation Union sent a quick apology to key senators after members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee erupted in anger over a union claim of influ

American Railcar Industries profit fell 82 percent to $1.1 million in the second quarter amid worries that one of its biggest customers, CIT, may seek bankruptcy protection.

Intermodal shipping firm Pacer International lost $7.3 million in the April-June quarter, down from a $22.9 million profit a year earlier, as revenue fell 27 percent to $377 million.

Many rail freight shippers are captive to a single carrier and it is “very rare” to have two lines serving them, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Talks to craft legislation that would revamp federal oversight of railroad-shipper disputes “continue to move forward but we’re not there yet,” said Sen. John Thune, S.D.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller said proposed rail reform legislation may not emerge in the few days remaining before the Senate starts a planned month-long recess on Aug.

Kansas City Southern bolstered its withered cash resources by completing a planned issue of $75 million worth of new common stock.

Defects in railroad tracks were the leading cause of train accidents in the first five months of 2009, says a Federal Railroad Administration report.

Rail traffic strengthened again for large U.S.

Kansas City Southern, the smallest of North America’s major rail lines, earned $6.7 million in the April-June period, down 87 percent from the same point in 2008 but up from a $7.5 million loss

Canadian Pacific Railway had a 1.7 percent gain in second quarter net income to $145 million by selling part of its share in the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership, but saw hefty declines in freight rev

Port Metro Vancouver is putting off any possible legal action against Canadian National Railway until it receives a promised report of how many containers CN will need to resume rail instead of truck

Sen.

Eastern-U.S. carrier Norfolk Southern Railway saw its profit plunge 45 percent from a year earlier in the April-June quarter to $245 million, as revenue fell 33 percent to $1.9 billion.

Union Pacific Railroad will have to grant rate relief and pay reparations to a captive Oklahoma utility, in amounts the Surface Transportation Board said could reach $100 million over 10 years, as the

Canadian National Railway is taking a cautious track toward its goal of speeding up rail service around the congested Chicago Freight hub.

The largest railroads operating in the U.S. shed another 1,922 jobs from mid-May to mid-June, leaving 11,575 fewer rail jobs than six months ago.

The Port Authority at Vancouver, British Columbia, is canvassing its options, including legal action, after Canadian National Railway switched its rail service to trucks for three of the port's four c

BNSF Railway struck a different course than most freight companies amid the sharp traffic slump, actually increasing its profit 15.4 percent to $404 million from efficiencies in the second quarter.

Freight traffic at major U.S.

GATX, a railcar and maritime asset leasing provider, earned a profit of $12.7 million on total gross income of $288.1 million in the second quarter. Gross income was down 24 percent.

Union Pacific Railroad posted a $468 million profit in the April-June quarter, a 12 percent fall in income that was milder than the plunge in traffic counts, as the railroad cut costs and boosted some

At a time when normal rail freight traffic has plunged, Canadian National Railway is revving up its jet fuel hauls at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport.

Canadian National Railway’s profit fell 16 percent in the second quarter to $352 million, but President and CEO E.

The head of Norfolk Southern Railway used remarks to the National Governors Association to promote multi-state NS intermodal corridor programs as a way for states to help fight highway congestion and

Kansas City Southern and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics will open a vehicle distribution center for automaker Nissan near Houston, using the new rail segment KCS opened there this month.

Kansas City Southern is celebrating a new rail segment in Texas this week that it hopes can open a new era in its cross-border freight traffic and nab more intermodal loads.

Norfolk Southern Railway said it plans to build a $129 million Memphis Regional Intermodal Terminal east of that city in Rossville, Tenn., with a targeted opening date of January 2012.

Carloadings of bulk materials and machinery rose in the latest week to the strongest level in three months at major U.S. railroads, as freight picked up after the slow July 4 holiday period.

CSX Transportation saw revenue fall 24.8 percent and net profit drop 20 percent on a sharp decline in shipping in the second quarter, but the railroad still managed a $308 million profit and said it m

At a time when North American railroads are idling equipment and workers, slashing capital project spending and trying to ride out a severe traffic slump, Kansas City Southern is celebrating the compl

Will shorter work assignments equate to the same pay for unionized rail workers? A federal court has been asked to decide.

Despite faint signs that parts of the freight industry are bottoming out or even picking up after a long slide, don’t look for bunches of “green shoots” to push through the tracks.

An impending cap on hours worked by train crews has major U.S. railroads wanting to alter pay agreements to reflect the curbs, and they have asked a federal court to quickly step in.

Pacer International, one of the top consolidators of domestic intermodal shipments on the nation’s railroads, said it has negotiated a compliance waiver for its credit leverage amount with a syn

Union Pacific Railroad sold 33 track miles north of Denver to Colorado’s Regional Transportation District for $118 million, in the first and largest of four land transfer deals to develop commut

In counting up railroads that are spending time on the possibilities of electrified freight train operations, don't include CSX Transportation.