Rail Industry News
STB, public to hear plan to reduce rail congestion around Chicago
(Source: Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2016) CHICAGO —A proposed 278-mile rail line billed as relief for freight and traffic congestion in the Chicago area is getting a hearing next month from a federal regulator, even as one potential customer said it's not interested...
Teamsters Local 330 wins settlement against Coca-Cola
(Source: Teamsters Joint Council 25 press release, March 1, 2016) PARK RIDGE, Ill. — A relief driver with Great Lake Coca-Cola Distribution recently secured $2,000 in back pay after Teamsters Local 330 fought to protect his seniority rights at work. Local 330 member...
BNSF to pay $95,000 to resolve disability discrimination allegations
(Source: Legal Newsline, March 18, 2016) SEATTLE — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced Texas-based BNSF Railway Co. has been mandated by a Washington federal court to pay $95,000 to a qualified applicant denied hire due to a back injury....
Editorial: Amtrak derailment near Cimarron raises safety concerns
(Source: Editorial in the Kansas City Star, March 20, 2016) KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When people step aboard any Amtrak passenger train they should expect to arrive at their destination safely. However, that wasn’t the case last week when the Los Angeles to Chicago...
Canadian government training emergency responders for oil train disasters
(Source: Vice, March 18, 2016) OTTAWA — The goal of the recent train simulation, which used flammable liquid common in firefighter training rather than actual crude, was to improve emergency preparedness and public trust around the movement of crude and other...
California bullet train revision would send railway underground for Palmdale-Burbank segment
(Source: Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2016) LOS ANGELES — The California High Speed Rail Authority redrew its proposed routes for the Burbank-to-Palmdale stretch of the state's bullet train in an effort to address concerns from residents impacted by the project,...
Crude by rail’s biggest hurdle: a love of pipelines
(Source: Globe and Mail, March 18, 2016) OTTAWA — As resource sector jobs dwindle across Alberta, a study from a Calgary-based transportation research institute suggests that rail should be considered as a means for getting bitumen from the oil sands to international...
STB to prepare environmental statement for proposed Great Lakes Basin rail line
(Progressive Railroading, March 21, 2016) The U.S. Surface Transportation Board's (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis late last week issued a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) and initiate the scoping process for the Great Lakes...
$132 million reworking of CSX’s Acca yard proceeding
(Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 20, 2016) RICHMOND, Va. — A $132 million reconfiguration of CSX’s Acca yard, which started in November and is scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2018, is still underway. Full story: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hoffa: Missouri governor sticks up for public employees with veto
(Source: International Brotherhood of Teamsters press release, March 18, 2016) WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following is a statement from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa about the veto today of paycheck deception legislation by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) that...
Pets on trains a hit for Amtrak and passengers
(Source: USA Today, March 18, 2016) WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the success of a 2014 pilot program in Illinois and a much larger pilot along the Northeast Corridor this past fall and winter, Amtrak announced in February that its pet program on the Northeast Regional and...
Analyst: California high-speed rail lacks spending details
(Source: Associated Press, March 17, 2016) SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new $64 billion business plan for California's high-speed rail system fails to identify how to fill a multibillion-dollar shortfall and calls for locating the first segment in an unpopulated...
High-speed rail construction takes on higher profile in Fresno
(Source: Fresno Bee, March 17, 2016) FRESNO, Calif. — Contractors are picking up the pace of construction on the first stage of California’s high-speed train system, with cranes, bulldozers and other heavy equipment at work at several sites in and around downtown...
Illinois Senate passes bill to help Amtrak
(Source: KFVS, March 17, 2016) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Southern Illinois University and other state universities would finally get state support and potentially scale back program cuts and layoffs thanks to legislation introduced Thursday in the Illinois Senate. The...
Storing crude oil in rail cars: Not widespread, but it does occur
(Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 2016) PHILADELPHIA — With last year's crash in oil prices, less crude is moving by train, creating a surplus of idle rail cars that have become opportunistic vessels for some traders storing petroleum until prices recover....
Valero taking oil by rail issue to STB
(Source: Daily Republic, March 18, 2016) BENICIA, Calif. — More than four hours of staff and Valero testimony this week ended with the oil company asking the Benicia City Council for a delay and the city moving forward with its public hearing process. Valero will seek...
Company preparing feasibility study to ship oilsands crude by rail to Alaska
(Source: Canadian Press, March 17, 2016) CALGARY — A rail company is getting ready to launch a feasibility study this spring into its plan to send trains full of oilsands bitumen from Fort McMurray, Alta., to Alaska. Full story: The Province
165 NS employees relocate to Norfolk
(Source: Virginian-Pilot, March 17, 2016) NORFOLK, Va. — The closure of a Roanoke office building has led to the relocation of 165 Norfolk Southern Corp. employees to Norfolk. Full story: Virginian-Pilot
New freight train speed limit signs in Canada reference Lac-Megantic tragedy
(Source: Montreal Gazette, March 15, 2016) MONTREAL — Vaudreuil-Dorion has installed new speed-limit signs along freight train tracks that evoke the tragedy of the deadly Lac-Mégantic crude oil shipment derailment of 2013. The signs read, “I remember Lac-Megantic,...
Opinion: CP-NS merger would ease rail gridlock
(Source: Des Moines Register opinion column by Craig Lang, March 18, 2016) DES MOINES, Iowa — As Iowans look to maintain our way of life under increased global competition, threats to ethanol production and antiquated infrastructure, we need to improve access to...
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