Rail News

The Surface Transportation Board said railroads saw their capital costs rise to 11.75 percent in 2008 from 11.33 percent the year before, raising the amount carriers could recover in freight rates.

Rail freight traffic at North American short lines grew moderately in the middle week of September after the previous week saw a slowdown for Labor Day.

Bouncing back from a shortened week that included Labor Day, major U.S. rail operations had their strongest intermodal performance of 2009 in the week ending Sept.

Canadian National Railway reached agreement with a Chicago-area suburb that opposed CN’s acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, which runs through several suburban communities tha

The Sept. 24 story “Canadian Pacific Seeking to Lure U.S.

Canadian Pacific Railway, looking to capitalize on the regulatory stability and supply chain collaboration Canada has developed, intends to help the Port of Vancouver increase its share of the lucrati

Norfolk Southern Railway got two major rail routes back in service after days of flood closures this week around Atlanta, but it will be a while before traffic is back to normal.

RailAmerica, the large owner of small railroads that is now owned entirely by Fortress Investment Group, increased the amount of its planned offering of public shares to $450 million from an earlier $

FreightCar America earned a $7 million profit in the second quarter, with revenue as it earlier indicated at $104 million, the railcar manufacturer said in its delayed financial report after completin

Train traffic is rising on the Chicago-area short line that Canadian National Railway absorbed this year, but CN told regulators it further reduced long train-caused delays at roadway crossings in Aug

The seven largest railroads operating in the United States boosted their overall train and engine crews from mid-July to mid-August, but job cuts elsewhere took employment down from a month earlier.

In a windy cornfield of north-central Iowa, the nation’s largest wind tower staging facility is about to get a lot bigger, building on what has been a fast-growing busine

Freight industry officials now confirm what the statistics already show: The worst freight downturn in decades apparently bottomed out months ago. But there’s not a lot of celebrating over that.

Watco Transportation, which bills itself as the leading private U.S.

In a Labor Day-shortened loading week that took overall short line traffic to its lowest level since the July 4 holiday, short lines surveyed by RMI still reported gains in some cargoes that show dema

Rail equipment manufacturer FreightCar America said it completed an accounting review that goes back to 2007, and is restating 2008 profit to more than double what it first reported.

The House Judiciary Committee passed an antitrust bill that railroads oppose, as it would put them under the same antitrust provisions faced by other industries, but any similar measure in the Senate

With Labor Day removing the first normal shipment day from the schedule of major U.S. railroads, railcar loadings and intermodal units last week were their lowest since early July.

The French government unveiled an $11.8 billion plan Sept. 16 to significantly increase rail's share of Europe's second largest transport market over the next 10 years.

Eastern-U.S.

Railroad freight volumes are probably the single most important indicator of the economy’s health to billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

A growing number of Washington insiders say the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is close to introducing the first reform of rail economic regulation in 30 years, but indicate all

Famed U.S. investor Warren Buffett thinks the economy has “plateaued” along a bottom after a sharp decline, with little sign of recovery.

Distribution centers and manufacturing plants in the Ohio Valley will soon have two new intermodal options for moving their cargo to and from Asia.

Daniel R.

As more wind towers sprout on alternative energy farms around the United States, Union Pacific Railroad is taking a growing share of wind shipments away from trucks.

Canadian National Railway opened a $14 million automobile unloading facility at its MacMillan Yard in Toronto that more than doubles the railcar spots available.

The chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is expected soon to introduce legislation that could toughen rail competition rules for the first time since railroads were de

At major U.S. railroads, even a minor decline in weekly traffic can look pretty good.

After weeks of steady gains, freight traffic at small North American railroads in the week ending Sept. 5 slipped to its lowest level in a month, said the RMI RailConnect index.

B.H.I.T, a Boca Raton, Fla. investment firm that has been looking to buy railroad service operations, said it acquired the stock of St.

Short line operator RailAmerica said its first half 2009 profit rose to $19.2 million from $4.8 million in the same period in 2008, suggesting a surge in in demand in this year’s April-June quar

U.S. railroads are riding a tailwind generated by federal stimulus programs but need to beware: That tailwind may turn out to be a gust that can’t be sustained.

Small North American railroads hauled more railcar loads of automobiles and other large pieces of equipment in the week ending Aug. 29 than any other time this year.

Large U.S. railroads have waited all year for a week like this one.

Veolia Transport sold its Cargo division, including 20 European subsidiaries, to two rail freight operators, SNCF and Eurotunnel.

Intermodal consolidator Pacer International’s capital spending will be capped at $6.5 million starting in 2010 under the debt agreement it reached last week with creditors.

The new chairman of the Surface Transportation Board opted out of a regulatory ruling this week for what would have been his first controversial case, under a policy of recusal from issues involving h

The Port of Long Beach is seeking ideas from transportation planners for developing zero-emission systems to shuttle containers between marine terminals and near-dock rail yards.

The Port of Long Beach on Wednesday is hosting a public meeting to solicit community input on plans to expand a staging area for double-stack trains.