North-American rail

Electro-Motive Diesel, one of the two U.S. builders of big line-haul locomotives for the rail freight industry, tapped Michael P.

Norfolk Southern last week idled most operations at a Columbus, Ohio facility and will lay off 86 workers there in July.

With all the talk about the economy starting to find a bottom to its steep downturn, large railroads are still seeing declines so large that a key industry official is sounding a warning.

Scratch another 2,000 jobs, the Class I railroads told the Surface Transportation Board.

Sometimes even a good financial report can show how bad the economy is.

Kansas City Southern, the only North American Railroad with large-scale operations in both the United States and Mexico, says the swine flu outbreak had not been affecting rail operations up to May 1.

For one week, at least, freight traffic at major U.S. railroads was clearly better, across a range of categories.

Kansas City Southern, parent of the smallest U.S. Class 1 railroad and a Mexico rail unit that once supplied nearly half its revenue, lost $7.5 million in the first quarter.

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico plummeted a record 30.9 percent from February a year ago to $47.9 bi

Trinity Industries, the largest supplier of railcars in North America, earned $34 million in the first quarter but not thanks to its car sales.

The U.S.

With Canadian National Railway set to elevate its chief financial officer into the CEO’s chair, it is replacing Claude Mongeau as CFO with a senior executive from a large holding company that sp

Union Pacific Railroad is paying out $228,000 in civil penalties and related costs to settle environmental complaints linked to its 2005 removal of some railroad-owned huts.

The Childrens Investment Fund Management, the aggressive hedge fund that last year waged a fierce and successful fight to install new directors on the CSX board to reshape the railroad, no longer hold

Burlington Northern Santa Fe profits in the first quarter fell 36 percent to $293 million as freight volume declined dramatically and an unfavorable coal rate case decision slashed revenue.

Consol Energy, signaling a weakening market for coal shipping this year, cut its production forecast for the year because of reduced demand.

Sharp decreases in operating costs at Union Pacific couldn’t put the brakes on a runaway first-quarter decline in railroad revenue and profit that threatens to gain speed as volumes plummet.

Canadian Pacific Railway profits fell 31 percent in the first quarter to $50.9 million.

For the fourth consecutive week, U.S.

W.

A former regulator at the Surface Transportation Board, W.

Profit at one of the largest eastern-U.S.

An aged BNSF Railway bridge on the Upper Mississippi River, which the Coast Guard considers a hazard to barge traffic and other navigation, will be rebuilt with the aid of Recovery Act funds.

Claude Mongeau will replace E. Hunter Harrison at the end of this year as president and CEO of Canadian National Railway, the company said.

Canadian National Railway revenue and operating income took a hit from the tough economic environment but net earnings improved year-over-year in the first quarter after including some exceptional ite

* BNSF Eyes Route to Electric Trains

The Surface Transportation Board tried to launch a big hearing on the most controversial issues it regulates – competition between railroads and access to rail service for shippers – but i

A railroad executive, opening a new line of opposition to efforts to tighten antitrust oversight of the industry, said Friday carriers could seek federal compensation if the plan undercuts deals th

Bulk freight volume at major U.S.

By the middle of February, employment levels at the U.S. operations of the seven Class I railroads had been set back by four years.

The Surface Transportation Board will air out some of the most controversial issues between railroads and their customers, in a wide-ranging public hearing on competition issues May 18 and 19.

Rail giant CSX said its profit fell 30 percent to $246 million in the first three months of 2009, as revenue fell 17 percent to $2.25 billion.

Canadian National Railway reported 50 instances when its trains or those of a short line it bought blocked road crossings in the Chicago area, in the first two months since it took over those tracks e

"It's really going to have to be a federal vision, with some federal funding."

"What he’s really talking about ... is Phase I of the Interstate II idea.”

"You at least have to start with a dual locomotive."

"It's not a technology leap. It's an incremental move."

At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Chairman Jon Wellinghoff has been thinking about freight railroads.

As efforts continue in Congress to craft a new rail competition bill that shippers and railroads can both accept, a top railroad CEO says the pivotal lawmakers understand the need for rail firms to ea