In January 2021, Union Pacific’s new Twin Cities Intermodal Terminal in Minneapolis will launch with domestic intermodal service connecting the Twin Cities and Los Angeles, expanding its customers’ reach to key Upper Midwest markets.
Robert Primus and Michelle Schultz, whose confirmation as the fourth and fifth members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board have been on hold for months, were confirmed by the U.S. Senate late on Nov. 18. They are expected to be sworn in shortly, giving the STB its full complement of five members, a number set by the 2015 Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act.
For the week ending Nov. 14, 2020, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 527,462 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.2% compared with the same week last year, based on a double-digit intermodal gain, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Nov. 18. Total carloads were 232,146, down 3.1% compared with the same week in 2019, but U.S. weekly intermodal volume, at 295,316 containers and trailers, rose 12.9% compared to 2019.
The “magic number” is 100%, and as of the end of third-quarter 2020 (Sept. 30), the railroad industry had reached 99.6% of fully implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) systems by the Dec. 31, 2020 federal deadline, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s quarterly status update on railroads’ self-reported progress.
Twenty-five years ago, Nov. 17, 1995, the Government of Canada put CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) shares up for sale to investors. At C$2.25 billion, it was the biggest IPO in Canadian history. “At the time, CN was the largest and oldest Crown Corporation in Canada,” CN said in a statement marking the anniversary, which it also celebrated with six road locomotives painted in heritage schemes. “Today, CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler.”
Sometimes it seems like lightning strikes and we see a significant jump in the capabilities of technology. Such is the case with PS Technology’s Precision Train Builder™ (PTB), a suite of abilities
Five major rail industry companies—Trinity Industries, Norfolk Southern, GATX, Genesee & Wyoming and Watco Cos.—have entered into a joint venture called RailPulse that is “expected to accelerate rail modal transformation through the advancement of GPS technology and other telematics across the North American railcar fleet.”
“Public Transportation – From the Thumb Railroad to Hyperloop and Beyond” is a new children’s picture book by Paul Comfort and illustrated by Sudeep KP. It presents “the wonderful world of public transportation,” providing youngsters a chance to “discover its history, how public transportation has improved our world and what is next!”
Shades of the battle between CSX and Norfolk Southern that occurred some 25 years ago over Conrail, but on a smaller scale: CSX is in negotiations to acquire Pan Am Railways, the 1,700-mile Class II previously known as the Guilford Rail System, itself the amalgamation of the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Portland Terminal Company and Springfield Terminal Railway. NS, in a Nov. 6 filing with the Surface Transportation Board, is opposing the transaction.
FROM THE EDITOR, NOVEMBER 2020 ISSUE: 1992 was a watershed year for me. That’s when, at the tender age of 32 years and roughly 8 months, I joined Railway Age as Assistant Editor under Luther S. Miller, who had joined the publication in 1958 and had been, since 1966, in the post I have held for the past 20 years. Luther was five years older (65) than I am now. He was my colleague, mentor and friend until he died at 90 a few years ago. Seems hard to believe (except for the hair). Where has the time gone? (Don’t we all say that at some point in our lives, like when our children are grown? My sons are 21.)
